Tale Of A Thousand Cranes
by blackcatgirl
Summary: When Deidara and Itachi wake up in an unknown place, seemingly located outside of time and space, their only clue as to their location is a little girl carried a stuffed rabbit. They must follow her and dive into a strange world filled with ever changing and sometimes bizarre rules if they ever hope to find their fellow Akatsuki members and get back to their own world.
1. Chapter 1

Hello and welcome to my new story. While I am still working on my other story, and so may not be able to update in a timely manner, I hope you will enjoy reading it and offer your support.

I do not own Naruto. As if that needs to be repeated at this point.

Enjoy, and review!

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Something poked him in the face. Deidara frowned and tried to push it away. It came back, more insistent. Poke, poke, poke . . .

Couldn't they see he was trying to sleep? That's when he realized something strange. He was lying neither on a bed nor on the forest floor, but on something very hard and very cold. And he was warm. This was strange. Poke, poke, poke . . .

"Hey mister? mister?" A small voice came from somewhere close to his ear. Poke, poke, poke . . . "Niisan, wake up!"

"Go away, hm . . ."

"Niisan!"

"I said . . ." he sat up suddenly, wide awake, eyes blurry. He rubbed them, confused, and looked around. White, stainless walls, rows of fluorescent lights, rooms numbered randomly, a cart filled with medical odds and ends, needles, tubes and the like, met his rapidly roaming eyes. He was in a hospital, and it was night time. The lights were off, but he could still see his surroundings clearly. Everything was slightly tinted in pink. The atmosphere was quiet and still, nothing moved.

Then something poked him again. Deidara frowned, getting more irritated by the second. 'Where in the hell am I, hm?' His only visible eye rotated around the hall, searching for the source of the annoyance, and widened when he found it. Crouched next to him was a small girl, wearing pink pajamas and no shoes, her stark-black hair tied in pigtails, her large, dark blue eyes staring at him curiously. She clutched a pink stuffed bunny in her arms.

He was about to yell and demand that she explain what was happening, but she opened her mouth first.

"Hey niisan, what'cha doing here?"

"What am I . . . listen, brat . . ." Deidara stood up, dusted himself off, in the process noticing that he still had his Akatsuki uniform on, and stared down at the girl. She was about three and a half feet tall, and looked to be about six or seven years old. With her sweet smile and big eyes, she was the very picture of innocence, and that was what made her suspicious. Deidara had not survived so long in the ninja world by being fooled by an appearance that could be simply achieved with a transformation jutsu.

"Who the hell are you, hm? What is this place?"

"I'm Chizuru! Nice to meet you, what's your name?" she straightened up, still holding her bunny. It was missing an eye and had a round pocket watch tied with a white ribbon around its neck.

"Huh, I'm Deidara. Where am I?"

"You don't know?" She looked around. "Well, I'm not sure either. But every time I go to sleep, I wake up and the hospital is like this. It's kinda sad 'cause their's no one to play with me here. Except Usagi-san, but he doesn't wake up very often."

"Usagi-san, hm?" Deidara was growing more confused, and thus irritated, by the minute.

"Yeah. Say hello, Usagi-san!" She held up the bunny and made it wave. Its head flopped to the side in a rather gruesome manner.

"Right . . . You don't know where I am?"

"Nuh-huh." she shook her head. Deidara took one last look at her, and took off. "Hey wait, niisan!"

He explored the place a little more. He seemed to be on the third floor of the hospital, but there was no one around. Everything was dead quiet, completely and unnaturally still. The silence was about to drive him insane. He ran down the stairs, intent on getting out of this place, and arrived at the lobby. It was a large area, with comfortable chairs and a playpen for children that had no toys in it. The front desk was unoccupied; there were no papers or phones. The television screen hanging on the wall was dark. He rushed to the front door and opened it. There was nothing beyond it, just pure darkness. He checked the windows, and it was the same.

"Damn it, hm!"

"Deidara?" He turned around at the familiar voice.

"Itachi? What the hell are you doing here, hm?"

"I might ask you that same question." the man said calmly, blinking once and regarding the younger shinobi with unreadable eyes.

"Well I don't know!" Deidara sat down moodily on one of the chairs. "How long have you been here, anyway?"

"Roughly one hour. It is difficult to tell how much time has passed in this place. The clocks are all broken."

"Great! We're stuck here, hm."

"I assure you, I have not been sitting idly by. I have gathered some intel."

Deidara looked up, interested. Itachi showed no emotion, even at such a critical time. They were stuck in this weird place where time seemed to stand still and no sound could be heard, yet he had been level-headed enough to make observations. Deidara nodded curtly.

"There was little I could glean. For one, we are unable to leave. I tried walking out through the front doors, but I was turned around and walked right back in. Similar results were observed through the windows."

"I could have told you that, hm. It's like there's nothing beyond this place."

"Perhaps. The second thing I noticed is that that the doors to the different rooms on each floor cannot be opened."

"Didn't you try blasting them, hm?"

"This leads me to the third thing I have noticed. Look closely." Itachi went over to a potted plant standing close by. He nudged it with his foot, and it crashed to the ground, spilling dirt and pottery shards over the pinkish floor. The noise was strangely muted, as if someone had filled the air with cotton.

"Now, look away from it, just for an instant." Deidara grumbled at this silly exercise, but did so, and jumped to his feet in surprise.

The pot was standing. Unbroken, as it was before. No cracks, no dirt, just a plain old fake plant in its garishly colored pot.

"What the . . ."

"I have tried this with many things, but the result is always the same. Things are set in a certain way, and are not subject to change."

"What the hell is this place? OY! Is this some kind of genjutsu? Who's doing this?" Deidara yelled.

"I have already explored that possibility. My Sharingan would have detected a genjutsu."

"Then how do you explain this, hm?" Deidara was getting riled up, both by the unnerving atmosphere and the calm demeanor of someone he hated to begin with.

"I am at the moment, unable to explain this. I did, however, meet an anomaly."

"That brat . . ." Deidara murmured.

"Yes. She might be our only clue. We must find her."

Deidara grumbled a bit, but agreed. He had his clay with him, at least. In fact, he was wearing his usual outfit, his cloak, and even his scope. Whoever had put them here obviously wasn't all that careful.

They went looking for the girl. It wasn't very hard to find her.

She came running up to them, holding her bunny, a beaming smile on her face.

"Hey!"

Deidara was shocked to see a small, kind smile paint itself on Itachi's face as he knelt down so that he was at eye-level with her.

"Hello. My name is Itachi. Could you tell me your name?"

"I'm Chizuru! Nice to meet 'cha, Itachi-niisan!"

"So . . . May I call you Chizu-chan?"

"Yep!"

"Chizu-chan, do you know what this place is? We woke up here, and we have to go back home."

She thought about it, one finger on her chin, eyebrows screwed together and nose slightly wrinkled. "I don'know. I just wake up here sometimes. I don'know how to leave, it just happens."

"I see." Itachi said. "How long have you been here this time?"

"Let's see . . . Usagi-san?" She held up her rabbit, and checked the pocket watch around its neck. "See, when I wake up, both hands are on twelve. I leave when they are on twelve again, see?" She showed it to Itachi. Sure enough, the hands were moving. The watch currently indicated twelve past twelve.

"You stay here twelve hours?"

"Nah, sometimes more, sometimes less. The hands don't move at the same speed all the time."

Itachi was deep in thought. This watch was the only thing moving around here. Could this girl have some sort of ability . . .

"What do you do when you come here?" he asked.

"I run around, play with Usagi-san, and when I get too bored I get him to open a door for me."

"This is getting annoying, hm!" growled Deidara. "Who the hell cares . . ." he was silenced by a withering glare from Itachi.

"We have companions that may have come here with us. Could Usagi-san help us find them?"

"Sure! I just need to wake him up."

Deidara looked on, an eyebrow raised, as Chizu-chan proceeded to shake the rabbit, telling it to wake up. There was no frigging way that was going to work. It's a stuffed animal, for crying out loud!

"Uuuusaaaaagiiiii-saaaaaan . . . . WAKE UP!" she yelled. For a moment it stood still.

"Stop shaking me! Damn brat!" The rabbit jumped out of her arms and walked several steps, chest heaving. "Damn, stop waking me up like that! You give me a scare each and every time!"

"A t-t-t-talking rabbit?" Deidara stuttered, one finger pointed shakily at the little creature. Itachi's eyes widened. Chizu-chan made a pouty face.

"I am so out of here!" Usagi-san stomped off, not getting very far on its tiny legs before Itachi caught him and lifted him up. "Hey, hey, hey, hey! Get your mitts of me, you creep! Haven't you ever heard of personal space? I'll sue you for harassment, buddy! Let me go! Too high, too high! PUT ME DOWN!"

"For a stuffed animal, he sure is noisy, hm." said Deidara, having regained control of himself. He was half convinced this was all a dream, anyway.

"You have something against stuffed animals, punk? I'll sue you for discrimination!"

"This is certainly odd . . . is this some kind of jutsu?" Itachi pulled at the thing's limp arms, legs, and ears, holding it closer to his face so he could examine it easier. The rabbit jerked its arm out of Itachi's grasp and smacked him in the face. Stunned, he let go. The rabbit attempted to flee again, but was caught by Deidara, who held it carefully at arm's length as though it might explode.

"Put me down, brat!"

"Where are we, hm?"

A conspiratorial look appeared on the rabbit's face, as it crossed its arms.

"Ooooh, is that how this is? Well, I'm not telling you anything, buddy! 'Cause I don't know! No one knows! I just do my job, alright?"

"Which is?" pressed Itachi. The bunny beckoned them closer.

"What-e-ver, Chizu-chan, wants. You want something, ask her. I'm clamming up now. I know my rights!"

Deidara glared down at the little girl. She appeared not to notice.

"Don't worry, I'm sure your friends are around here somewhere!" she said. "Usagi-san, can you open a door, please? I want to go look for their friends! It sounds like fun!" she hopped up and down. "Can we go? Please, pleeease, Usagi-san! We still have a lot of time left! Pleeeeease?"

The rabbit stared at its watch, frowning. Itachi and Deidara said nothing, hoping that the little creature would consent.

"I suppose . . . since we have so much time left . . . it should be alright . . ."

Chizu-chan squealed and hugged her stuffed animal tightly, much to its protest.

"Alright, lemme go! Lemme go, or I'll sue you for . . ."

"Yeah, yeah, get on with it, hm." Deidara grabbed the bunny out of her arms and nudged it towards the nearest door. "We don't have all day here, hm!"

"First of all, that's the wrong one. Leave it to the pros, buddy. Second, don't boss me around, or I'll kick your sorry behind into the next world! And the next! And the next one after that!"

"Oh yeah? Try it, you overactive ball of fluff! I'll blow you into a thousand pieces, hm!"

"Why you . . ."

"Usagi-san, let's hurry!" Chizu-chan called out. Deidara and the bunny looked up to see that Itachi and the girl were already at the staircase. They both ran to catch up, the latter keeping up easily on his stumpy pink legs.

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I hope you enjoyed it! Leave a review if you did.


	2. Chapter 2

New chapter, nothing to say, except merry Christmas!

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"What's so special about this door, hm?" Deidara said. It was a completely random door on the third floor. It stood, insulting him with its innocuousity, all pinkish and boring, and no matter how often he glanced at the number on it, it stayed derisively blurry.

"Don't diss the door, you ignoramus! This is the door! The door, I say!" yelled Usagi-san from the confines of Chizu-chan's arms.

"How do _you_ know, hm?"

"Because I'm a _pro_. This is my _job_. Pros are always _right_. But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you!"

"What did you say, hm?"

"Hard of hearing, blondie?"

"Why you . . ." Deidara tried to grab the bunny but it leapt out of the girl's arms and onto the doorknob. It swung precariously for a moment, before falling and twisting it as it did so. The door creaked open. Usagi-san dusted his behind off and looked up at Itachi.

"There you go, buddy. Your friends should be in there, somewhere or other. I can't make any promises."

"We will take our chances." Itachi said stoically.

The rabbit shrugged. "Suit yourself. Don't sue me if you don't find what you're looking for. Just a word of advice, before we go. Stick close to Chizu-chan, and _do not make her sad_. Also, follow the rules."

"What are the rules?"

"Whatever Chizu-chan thinks they are. I don't know, you'll figure them out, you'd better hope you do."

"Can we go, hm?" Deidara said, annoyed. Chizu-chan hopped up and down excitedly.

"Yeah, let'go, let'go! Come on, niisan!" With a bubbling laugh she grabbed Deidara's sleeve and tugged him to the door. Itachi opened it, and his eyes went wide. Inside was a swirling vortex of colors and smells that swirled round and round soundlessly. Deidara took a step back, repulsed.

"There's no way I'm jumping in that thing! Hm!" Itachi went up to him and whispered in his ear.

"We do not have a choice. Though it may be a trap, we have to take our chances." Deidara cringed away from him with a frown, his nose scrunched up in annoyance.

"Fine, hm."

"Great! Come on, we're wasting time!" Chizu-chan took Deidara's hand in her left, Itachi's in her right, and faced the portal. Usagi-san jumped on her neck, clinging to her ponytails like reins.

"Hang on for the ride!" it said, half-gleefully, half-maniacally.

Without giving the two Akatsuki men time to brace themselves, the girl and her rabbit jumped unhesitant into the portal, dragging them both with her.

* * *

When the brat took my hand and pulled me into that thing, I really had no idea how unpleasant it would be. It felt like I was turned into a glob of jelly and pushed and stretched in a bunch of different directions. I didn't dare let go of her hand, though I could hear her laughing out loud. Evidently, this was fun for her.

It lasted only a couple of minutes. In a flash we were tumbling on solid ground, I let go of the brat's hand and lay there, completely disoriented. My vision cleared quickly and I got up, still blundering around like I'd had one too many cups of sake. I clutched my head with a groan. Like hell I was jumping into one of _those_ things again. Suddenly, I heard a strange music. I lifted my head, and looked around.

We were in a goddamned amusement park. Right in front of the carousel. Which the brat was now climbing on.

"Oy! Come back here!" I yelled. I guess she couldn't hear me.

"Deidara. I will go and search this area. Keep an eye on Chizu-chan, and make sure she comes to no harm."

"What am I, a babysitter? And since when is the great Uchiha good with kids, hm?" I mocked him. He stared at me impassively, only annoying me more.

"Keep an eye on her." And with that, he was gone.

"Why do I have to do it?" I mumbled to myself. "Hey! Brat! Come back here!" The carousel was turning, and she was riding a black pony that went up and down, laughing stupidly. Her clothes had changed. She now wore white shorts, a blue tank top and green sneakers. Her hair was still in ponytails, but now tied with green ribbons. She went round and round, that stupid rabbit clinging to her, so I sat on a bench and waited. I crossed my arms and tapped my foot. How long was this thing going to take? I was starting to get a headache, listening to that stupid music, watching those stupid horses going up and down, up and down, round and round . . . I shook my head. Enough was enough.

I got up and waited till she passed in front of me before jumping on the platform.

"Okay, brat, fun's over. Get down, hm."

The brat stuck her tongue out at me. A vein bulged at my temple. I cracked my knuckles.

With a grin she jumped off the horse and took off. 'Damn brat!'

"Come here!" I yelled. She ducked around the horses until she was out of sight. I was too big to maneuver effectively around here! "Shit!"

Something jumped on my back, clinging to my shoulders. I yelped in fright.

"Get the hell off, hm!" I yelled.

"Hey, niisan, I scared you, din'I? Hey, din'I?"

"No you didn't, hm." The carousel had stopped. I stepped down, the kid still attached to my back.

"Yes I did! You screamed like a girl!"

"Oy . . . watch your mouth, kid."

She was silent for a moment. I decided to go and look for Itachi. I followed the yellow brick path, passing by rides and empty shops, never seeing anybody else. The place was deserted.

"Hey, niisan?" she asked suddenly.

"What, hm?"

"Are you a girl?"

"Why you . . ." I spluttered. _'Calm down, she's just a kid. Remember, just a kid. And your only way out of this. You must not blow her up.'_ "No," I said emphatically. "I'm a guy, hm."

"Then why do you have long hair like that?"

"Because I want to, hm."

"My mom told me that boys with long hair either din'have a house, were hippies, or liked other boys."

"Your mom is full of shit."

"What does that mean?"

". . . Never mind. I guess I don't have a house, I don't know what a hippy is, and I'm fucking straight, got it kid?"

She hummed. "I don't know what those words mean. But I guess you're a hobo?"

"Keep talking and I'll blow . . ." I stopped to think. "If it'll make you shut up, then _yes_, I'm a hobo, hm. Now shut up!"

Finally she was quiet. She climbed higher up my back so that her arms were around my neck and her legs curled around my waist. There was a bit of peace for a while, before she squealed, right in my ear.

"Cotton candy! Cotton candy! Look, niisan, loooook!"

"Stop shouting! I can hear you just fine!" I looked in the direction she was pointing at. There was a cotton candy stand, attended by a guy in a bear costume. He was the only living thing we'd encountered do far, so I decided to ask him questions while we were at it.

The kid ran up to the stand. She looked up at me over her shoulder with pleading eyes.

"Can I have some? Please?"

"You want me to pay for it? Dream on, hm."

I tried not to look at her puppy-dog eyes, but my gaze met the bears'. It was empty, soulless, and very disapproving. Those beady little eyes stared right at me, judging me, soulless pits admonishing me. Ten seconds of staring in that thing's eyes, and I caved.

"Fine, hm." I didn't have much money with me, but I discovered that it had changed. It was now bright pink with a bear's face inside a scalloped circle. The number ten was printed on it. "What the . . ."

The bear held out his paw expectantly, the other pointing to a sign with the prices.

"I want the pink one!" the kid chimed in. "The pink! The pink!"

I paid the bear without a fuss, hoping that her mouth would be too full and too sticky to chatter in my ear. It worked, sort of. Only she got sugar on my cloak when she saw a balloon stand and pulled me towards it, which I also had to pay for, thanks to the tiger manning the counter's beady, disapproving eyes, exactly like the bear's. I tried talking to it, shouting, banging my fist on the counter; it said nothing, only stared soullessly and pointed towards the kid who gallivanted off along the yellow brick road, her pink cotton candy staining her mouth pink, balloon cheerfully bobbing up and down.

"Alright, that's it, this is a dream. Wake up, hm!" I pinched myself. Nothing. "Come on! This is too weird to be real, hm! Someone get me out of here, hm!" I yelled. There was no response. That little tune kept playing merrily.

"Look, Dei-niisan, look! There's Itachi-niisan!" the kid said suddenly. "Look!"

I looked in the direction she was pointing at. Itachi was standing in front of a circus-like tent, stripped with red and white, a little flag fluttering at the top even though there wasn't even a hint of a breeze. The sign in front said 'Live Puppet Show!' with a sad looking puppet suspended on strings drawn underneath in chalk.

"Itachi!" I called out. He turned around. Me and the kid arrived next to him.

"Deidara." he said. "I believe I may have found something. I detected a faint trace of chakra, and followed it here."

"You think someone is in here, hm?"

"We might as well see."

"Let's hurry!" the kid grabbed my sleeve with her sticky hands. "The show will start soon! I want to see the puppet show!"

"We're talking, kid! Didn't your mother ever tell you kids should be seen and not heard?"

"I want to see the puppet show!" she whined.

"Chizu-chan, you have sugar all over you." Itachi said. "Let's go wipe it off, then we can see the show, alright?"

She sullenly let go of my sleeve and said "Okay. You promise we'll see it?"

"I promise."

I stayed next to the sign while he took the kid to a nearby water fountain I was sure hadn't been there before, and washed her mouth and hands off. I stared. I couldn't help it. Who would have thought Uchiha of all people knew how to deal with little brats?

We went inside the tent, Chizu-chan enthusiastically running ahead. The inside was downright frightening.

In an instant we were sitting in the stands, the roar of the crowd all around us, except that there wasn't a crowd. There were vague, human shaped shadows that undulated up and down, squirming just like a real crowd. As I focused, they turned into cylindrical things with circles for heads, all identical. The ones closest to us were the best defined, but the quality of their existence drastically diminished as my gaze traveled further back. It hit me. These were like a child's drawing of a crowd, one that only had the patience to draw the front row, and even then, not quite correctly.

"It's gonna start!" I felt the now familiar tug on my sleeve and glanced down at the girl. She was staring excitedly at the round stage. Was this really a dream? It felt too real to be one. It was not a genjutsu, either. But somehow, the brat had a kind of control of what was going on here . . .

A child's mind.

With a roar of the crowd, the show began. Lions and tigers jumped through flaming hoops, people whirled through the air on trapezes, a woman in a pretty dress walked across a tightrope, the crowd going silent with tension as she did so, an elephant balanced on a ball, clowns in grotesque makeup went through series of pitiful gags. At that, Chizu-chan hid her face in my cloak.

Finally, it was time for the puppet show. However, what they brought out was so surprising I jumped up and yelled, finger pointed

"Sasori no Danna!"

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You know what's a great Christmas gift? A review.


	3. Chapter 3

Here's chapter 3. Review!

* * *

And so it was. Sasori, face absolutely livid, arms held up by invisible strings, was hauled onto the stage on a kind of makeshift wooden theater, complete with red velvet curtains, accompanied by the crowd's roar. Chizu-chan clapped her hands excitedly.

"It's a puppet! A puppet show!" she squealed, jumping up and down in her seat.

I didn't know what to do! Sasori caught my gaze, and believe me, this was the angriest I had ever seen him. I thought that I should probably go and rescue him, but out of the corner of my eye I saw Itachi shake his head. What did he have in mind?

He leaned down to Chizu-chan and gently shook her.

"Chizu-chan? That is our friend."

She looked up quizzically at him with big eyes. She tilted her head, distracted from the show. Everything froze, the show, the crowd, the noise ceased and a deafening silence cloaked the arena. Heck, even the ceiling seemed to be fuzzy and unsubstantial now.

"Your friend is a puppet?" she asked.

"Yes. I'm sorry, but . . ."

"Well, why didn't you say so?" She grinned, and jumped over the railing.

"Hey!" I yelled. This was too far up! I tried to catch her, but missed. "Chizu-chan!"

She didn't break upon hitting the ground. She landed and stumbled slightly on solid legs. For a second, the distance between the seats and the arena was barely one foot. Another moment, and we were high up again, just like that.

I growled and jumped after her, quickly followed by Itachi. Her little feet stirred up clouds of sawdust as she approached the puppet theater. Sasori glared down at her and she cowered back. The edges of the circus tent wavered like water, rippled slightly and seemed to blur. When I got to her side, she hid behind my cloak with a sob.

"Sasori." Itachi said. The red head turned his gaze to him. "Hold on. We will get you down."

"_Hurry." _he spat.

Itachi jumped up, holding a kunai, and tried to cut the strings. His eyes widened when he saw that the blade passed through them as if they were not there. He looked over his shoulder at Chizu-chan. She was trembling, face hidden in my cloak.

"Tch. Danna, you're an idiot. You scared her, hm!" I passed my hand through my hair with a sigh. The stupid bunny had warned us not to make her sad. Looking at the strange state of the tent around us, I knew he was right. I just didn't know why.

"Why should it matter when some brat is feeling?" Sasori sneered. He was wearing his usual uniform, but he was tightly bound by the strings.

"Because . . ." Usagi-san popped up from inside my cloak.

"Hey! When'd you get in there, fuzzball?"

The bunny threw me a condescending look, and stepped over in front of Sasori, looking up at him, an ear cocked to the side.

"Ooooh, a new one, eh? This your friend, blondie? Pinocchio? The puppet show sure suits him." He laughed. Sasori struggled against his bonds. "But, all laughing aside, you shouldn't have scared Chizu-chan. Bad things happen when she's scared. I give this place, 'bout ten more minutes of this before it blows. Don't sue me when that happens, I warned you."

"But why?" said Itachi. Usagi-san shrugged.

"Don'know. I'm just a guide, here 'kay? Okay!" he puffed out his chest. Sasori was looking more puzzled than angry now. He stared at the bunny with a raised eyebrow. I guessed that seeing a talking stuffed rabbit had thrown him for a loop.

"This is a dream." he deadpanned.

"Yeah," I sighed. "That's what we're all thinking."

"Whether it's a dream or not, we need Chizu-chan." said Itachi. He jumped down from the platform and approached up. "Chizu-chan? It's alright. He won't hurt you."

Chizu-chan peeked out, one big blue eye shining with tears. Man, I never knew Sasori was that scary. I knew Danna wouldn't hesitate to cut her down, child or not, but we needed her, so I had to play along.

"Yeah, kid, he's just a puppet. You like puppets . . . right, hm?" I said awkwardly. Sasori's glare turned to me.

"Brat . . ." he seethed. Itachi gave him a look and he shut up. He thought about something for a moment, then spoke, his face carefully blank. "Little girl. If you let me down, I'll show you a real puppet show."

She looked up at me. She still clutched onto my cloak like it was a life raft, and I nodded. The strings disappeared and Sasori stumbled down from the stage. Itachi stood warily next to him.

"I'm not going to kill her." he said. He then took out a scroll. "You say we need her, right?" he addressed the bunny.

"Yeah . . ."

In a puff of smoke, a handful of little wooden mannequins appeared. Chizu-chan's grip on my cloak loosened. I pushed her forward a little bit, staring with a frown at the ceiling above. Shards of smoky glass had been raining down and disappearing when they reached the ground, but now things had frozen. Chakra strings snaked out of Sasori's fingers and snapped onto the puppets. They stood shakily at the command of his fingers and bowed. Chizu-chan was transfixed. She knelt down, eyes wide. One of them waved, and she smiled.

They whole place seemed to shake itself into being. The ceiling was there, fixed and tangible, and music began to play, a twinkly little tune to which the puppets danced under the command of Sasori's fingers. Source less light streamed down in rays of white, the dust of the area sparkling as it floated in the air, tiny glittering grains illuminating everything. A ray fell like a spotlight on the dancing puppets.

The show went on. In a circle the puppets moved about, to Chizu-chan's delight. Her eyes sparkled as she followed them around. When it was over, the puppets saluted and she clapped with a little laugh.

In a flash of light the circus tent disappeared and we were standing in a plaza, next to a tinkling fountain. Large attractions of various kinds loomed over, and the yellow brick ground led of various paths. The music played, in the background, and that was the only sound.

I blinked and rubbed my eye. Just when I thought things couldn't get any weirder.

"I wanna go play!" Chizu-chan was no longer enthralled by the puppets. She looked at Itachi and held out her hand. "Let's go!"

"Go by yourself, brat." Sasori snarled, putting his puppets back in their scroll. Now that he had calmed her down and avoided . . . well, whatever would have happened, he was back to his grouchy self.

"We need to talk." said Itachi, glancing meaningfully at me and Danna. He was right. We'd found one of the members, so we should stop and assess the situation.

"Yeah, Chizu-chan." Usagi-san sprang up. "No need for these losers to tag along! Let's go play together, watcha say?"

"But . . . I want to play with Itachi-niisan . . ."

"Well, you can't, hm." I said. "Don't be selfish and run along. Shoo!"

She looked sad, and for a moment I thought with horror that she was going to cry and things would get creepy again, but then Usagi-san jumped in the air. There was a spark of light and a shower of sparkles, and when it faded, that stupid looking stuffed animal wasn't there anymore. In his place was a young boy, about twelve or thirteen, with tousled pink hair, a single black eye (the other being closed), and fuzzy rabbit ears poking up out of his head. He had a pocket watch around his neck, and was dressed like some kind of butler, in a weird pink and white suit, with no jacket over his dress shirt, a double breasted waist coat, short trousers, knee high socks and loafers. His slanted eyes stared up at me sardonically and his mouth twitched in an unamused grin.

"Usagi-san?" I stuttered, pointing a finger at the boy. Itachi stared at him, shocked. Sasori rolled his eyes.

"Who else, blondie?" Oh, yeah, no mistaking that tone.

Chizu-chan was ecstatic. She squealed and hugged him around the middle. He took her hand.

"Come on, let's go play!"

She nodded, and they ran off.

* * *

"I think the brat completely forgot about us . . ." said Sasori. "This half hour had been the strangest I've ever experienced."

"Believe me, Danna, it's probably gonna get worse." I sat down on the edge of the fountain. "At least you haven't been sucked into one of those portals." I shuddered.

"What can you tell us about what happened to you?" said Itachi, in that emotionless tone I hated so much. He was always like that, uptight and cool, it seriously pissed me off.

Sasori shrugged. "I have no idea. I woke up tied up like some vulgar mannequin, being wheeled onto that stage. I tried to cut the strings, but I couldn't move at all."

"What is the last thing you remember?"

"The last thing . . ." Sasori frowned, and rubbed his finger in between his eyes. "Maybe . . . was I working on Hiruko? That must be it."

"Deidara, what about you?"

I set aside my distaste at being stared at by those eyes, and thought about it. Everything was so fuzzy, but I could vaguely recall . . . "Danna and I were in a clearing. Must have been after a mission, hm. He was working on Hiruko, and I went to sleep. Next thing I knew I was lying on the hospital floor. And you, Uchiha?" I spat out his name. "What were you doing?"

He didn't even blink. "I was traveling with Kisame, in the Land of Rain. We were on a mission."

"It seems clear," said Sasori. "That none of us recall a jutsu. So how were we brought here?"

"Wherever 'here' is, hm."

"You are quite right. I doubt whoever did this had any evil intent. We all still have all our weapons, and there hasn't been any threat to us . . ."

"Maybe, but I count a talking stuffed rabbit threatening that the sky is gonna fall just because some brat got scared as a threat, hm."

"She really is the key, isn't she?" said Sasori. "Her state of mind determines what is happening here. Look, even the clouds seem unreal."

We all looked up. Indeed, upon further examination, the sky looked oddly . . . pastel. Even the skyline, formed of various roller coasters and attractions, didn't seem quite there. It faded out over the horizon, as if badly colored in. A thought crossed my mind.

". . . hey, guys? If she's affecting this world, what happens if she forgets we're here? Does the world . . . I don't know, cave in or something?"

We were all silent for a moment. Then we scrambled after Chizu-chan.

* * *

Chizu-chan whipped down the mountain, her ponytails snapping behind her, screeching with laughter. Next to her, Usagi-san was screeching, period. 'Get me down from here! I'll sue you!' And nearly puked when they got off the roller coaster.

"Kill me . . ." he moaned.

"Usagi-san! The next one has a loop! Let's go!" she dragged him by his white-gloved hand to the empty line. They passed by the ticket vender (a giant cat) and climbed into the seats. Usagi-san had enough presence of mind left to make sure they were well buckled in, more for his own sake then for Chizu-chan's. After that ride too, he felt like he wanted to puke.

"Chizu-chan, try for a slower one, I'm going crazy here . . ."

"How about that one?"

"The spinning tea cups? Are you out of your mind?" She pouted, and he relented. "Fine, let's go."

Ten minutes of spinning later, he managed to convince Chizu-chan to take a break for ice cream. They sat at a small café, outside on the patio, and were served by a man with the head of a mouse dressed like a butler without having to order. Chizu-chan dug into her parfait, and Usagi-san had carrot cake.

"What's next, kid?"

"You know that ride with the chairs swinging in the air?" she bit down on a strawberry.

"Sounds great . . ." he said with a shudder. "But wouldn't a boat ride be more fun?"

"Sound'boring."

"You know, if you go on too many thrill rides you won't have any appetite. Don't you want to try candy apples?"

"I'll be fine, fine!" she grinned. "I wanna go on the Ferris wheel last of all, 'kay?"

"Sure."

"You'll come with me, right, Usagi-san?"

"Of course!"

". . . I wish Oniichan was here, though."

She was getting sad again, her eyes dropping. He had to cheer her up. He stood up and held out his hand, grinning from ear to ear.

"Didn't you want to try that roller coaster? The one with the water?"

She brightened up at the thought. She nodded, smile back.

"Then wipe your face and let's go! I bet those spoilsport adults will want to go soon. Let's play while we can!"

Their afternoon was spent riding attractions, eating junk food (Chizu-chan got her candy apple), splashing in the fountain when the temperature conveniently rose to the levels of a hot summer day, and trying out carnival games. They never won anything, though, because even though Usagi-san won every time, Chizu-chan never did and refused to accept a prize she did not win herself.

They sat on a bench, taking a break. Usagi-san was exhausted.

"Can you think of anything else to do, Chizu-chan?"

She thought about it. "No."

With that single resonating word, the world was bathed in twilight. The sky turned dark, a scattering of stars spread over it, and over the horizon the sun hovered, casting rays into the dark, illuminating sparse clouds in pink, purple, crimson, creating a picturesque sunset.

"Time to go to the Ferris wheel." She jumped up and started running, Usagi-san keeping up some steps behind her. Her small feet pounded on the yellow brick road, and the cool air rushed by her face as she ran as fast as she could. For Chizu-chan, there was no better sensation than running.

The Ferris wheel loomed over her, gigantic, lights turning on to greet her. They whirled in a thousand colorful patterns that entranced her and made her run that much faster. The metal clattered under her feet as she raced in, the dog headed attendant's eyes following her indulgently. She sat, and the ride started. It was only then that she noticed that she was alone.

* * *

We searched for that kid for hours. Seriously, how far could she have gone? You'd think we would have been able to hear her at least, but no, there was no trace of her anywhere. And no one to ask, either, unless you counted those animals doubling as staff, which never spoke anyways and so were absolutely useless. I tried to blow one up, but Sasori stopped me.

Suddenly, the sun was setting. There had been no warning, no nothing, the world had just decided it was going to be twilight now, and time had no say in it. This was definitely getting weirder.

"Chizu-chan!" Itachi called out.

"There's no way she'll hear you, hm."

"Look!" Sasori pointed. Usagi-san was running, about to turn around a corner. Sasori managed to grab him by the collar, before he ran out of sight. He was lifted in the air, kicking his feet.

"Hey! Let go, you creepy doll! Get your mitts off me, I'll sue you for harassment! And mental distress while I'm at it! LET ME GO!"

"Be quiet, boy. Where is the girl?"

"Like I'm gonna tell you!"

"It's time you told us what's going on, hm."

"I told you! I just do my job! Can't sue a guy for that, can you?"

"What is your job? Merely guiding Chizu-chan?" said Itachi, looking deep into the rabbit-boy's single eye. Usagi-san gulped. "Or . . ."

"I told you! Whatever Chizu-chan wants to happen, happens! That's all! I don't know any more than that! My job is to stay with her, guide her, and play with her if she gets lonely! I wasn't told any of the details!" he yelled, trashing harder.

"Who hired you, then?"

"How should I know? I was created for Chizu-chan, I don't know who, how, what, when, where, I just was! I don't know the details! No one here knows the details, not even Chizu-chan."

"Do you know how to leave?"

"We can only leave when both hands are on twelve again. They progress in such a way that finishing whatever you're doing coincides with the opening of the exit!"

"I see." said Itachi. "If Chizu-chan's purpose here is to find all of us, time will not be allowed to run out before she accomplishes that goal, no matter how much she may get sidetracked."

"But why that kid?" said Sasori. He gave Usagi-san a little shake. "Answer, rabbit."

"I said, I don't know!"

"How can you not know, hm?" I said, annoyed by the thing's flapping mouth.

"I don't know!"

"Where is Chizu-chan now?" asked Itachi.

"She went to ride the Ferris wheel! Why do you think it's sunset all of a sudden?"

He kicked a bit more, then realizing it was useless, went limp. There was a pop sound, a flash of light and a tinkle of bells, and a small pink stuffed rabbit was running away. I tried to scoop him up, but missed. Itachi motioned us forward.

"We will follow him."

"Suit yourself, hm." I grumbled.

* * *

Chizu-chan curled up on the seat, looking out through the window. She was going up, and up, and up, so that she could see the whole park, not as a park, but as a collection of lights and the occasional roller coaster mountain, stretching on and on, over the horizon where the sun sank slowly. Stars overhead were coming out, one by one, so bright it seemed like she could touch them if only she would spread out her hand. It was beautiful. Just as she had imagined it.

Only she was alone. Even Usagi-san had disappeared, and Dei-niisan and Itachi-niisan and Sasori-niisan did not want to play with her. It was lonely. The whole day had been a little lonely, even though Usagi-san had played with her. She had wanted to play with her new friends. She hadn't made new friends in such a long time. Being with only Usagi-san, it was almost like she was alone again. And now she truly was alone.

She swallowed tears.

"Good girls don't cry. Mama said so." she said in a clear voice. "I can play by myself." She stood in the small cabin and looked out the window. This was fun. She arrived at the peak of the wheel, and it stopped. She took in the view with wonder, and tugged the window open to feel the breeze.

Suddenly she saw something floating and spinning across the sky, getting closer. With wide eyes, she saw that it was a door. The next door had appeared!

"We can go find the rest of their friends!" she squealed. But, she thought with a frown, what if it flew away? What if they couldn't go through it? Then, they would never find their friends!

She really didn't think it through that much. She opened the door of her cabin, and climbed out. She climbed, clutching the metal framework, till she was as far up as she could go. It was amazing, even better than the view in the cabin. The sky over head was fully dark, bright with stars, and stretched out so far it was like she was completely surrounded by it. The wind blew past, and when she stretched her arms out, it was almost like she was flying.

She momentarily forgot about the door that was still spinning towards her. It smacked into her and knocked her cleanly off the edge.


	4. Chapter 4

Welcome to the next installment of this story. As always, I hope you enjoy it. Make me happy by leaving a review on your way out.

* * *

We chased that dumb rabbit through the streets. Night had completely fallen, and antique street lights had flickered on. Silence reigned, only the sound of our feet hitting the pavement and our breaths echoing dully. The Ferris wheel loomed over us, the flashing multicolored lights shutting out everything else.

A high pitched scream tore through the air. A shadow fell through the lights, small, and time seemed to stop.

In a flash I molded clay into a bird. A hand sign, a puff of smoke, and I was balanced on it, flying through the air. I dove into the lights, and caught the falling figure.

Chizu-chan shivered against me as we floated, my bird's wings flapping and keeping us in the air. I brought us to the ground softly.

"Oy, kid, you okay?" I put her down. She looked pretty shaken up.

"Uh-huh. I'm fine. But we have to go!" She pulled on my sleeve and pointed up. "Look!"

"Slow down, what's up there?" The lights from the Ferris wheel were so bright I could hardly see anything. I brushed my bang aside and clicked several time on my scope, scanning the sky. There was a freaking door spinning through the sky.

I stomped my foot angrily. "What the _fuck_ is wrong with this place, hm?"

"What does that word mean?"

"Nothing you need to know, Chizu-chan." Itachi said, arriving next to us with Sasori. His Sharingan whirled as he spotted the door. "Is that our next destination?"

"Yep!" Usagi-san jumped on Sasori's head, and checked the pocket watch. "Better hurry before it leaves! We've got plenty of time left."

"Get off of me, you disgusting creature!" Sasori growled and tried to tug him out of his hair.

I made a bigger bird and we all climbed on. Chizu-chan still clung to me as we lifted off the ground. Suddenly, as we picked up speed, her eyes went wide. She let go and took a step forward, and I had to scramble to catch her so she wouldn't fall off.

"We're flying! We're really flying!" she laughed her little heart out, spreading her arms out wide to catch the wind.

"Stop that, you'll fall, hm!" I tugged her to me. "I'm not catching you again!"

She looked over her shoulder at me, and smiled the most innocent smile I had ever seen. She looked so happy, so carefree, it was a bit nostalgic. This kind of innocence didn't exist in the ninja world, or even in the civilian world. Wars, famine and violence killed innocence early on.

The door stopped flying, still spinning slightly. It shivered and exploded into a vortex of colors, roaring through the sky, sucking it in. Below us, the park was disappearing, turning into an image that was melting together with the sky.

"This is not a good idea . . ." I said, swallowing hard.

"Stop complaining." said Sasori. He looked down at the vanishing park. "There's no turning back now." His mouth twisted in annoyance. Itachi was silently staring into the eye of the vortex.

We plunged straight into it. The clay bird disintegrated, we were tossed around, I was separated from Chizu-chan in the commotion, I was forced to close my eyes the light was so intense. The only sound was a hollow roaring echoing in my ears. I couldn't tell which way was up and which way was down.

Suddenly I was falling. The sky was completely blue, and the wind was crisp with a touch of salt. I thrust my hand in my pouch, chewed some clay and quickly made a bird. Once I was safe, I automatically checked my supply of clay. It was dwindling fast. My hair and cloak whipped around me by the wind that wouldn't stop blowing.

I was flying over an ocean. It stretched on forever, with no land in sight, a perfect dark blue. From this height I couldn't see much, but I noticed there was no sun and the sky's blue was oddly washed out at the edges of the horizon. I searched for the others, scanning the area sector by sector using my scope, zooming in and out with clicks. In no time, I spotted Itachi and Sasori standing on the water, but they were so far away I could hardly make out any details even with my scope. But where was Chizu-chan? I flew to them, getting there in under two minutes, riding my bird as fast as possible. I jumped off and stood on the water.

"There you are, brat. You kept us waiting." said Sasori.

"Yeah, sorry. Where's the kid, hm?"

Itachi pointed on finger.

"I don't see anything. Hm."

"Wait." said Itachi. I stared in the direction he pointed in. And I kept staring. What was I supposed to see . . .

A screech of laughter erupted with splashing water. Something silvery jumped out of the sea, and I glimpsed a small figure before it dived back in with another splash. Itachi smiled wryly.

"Chizu-chan is . . . having fun." he said. Sasori snorted.

"I wish she would hurry up."

"What is she doing, exactly?" I asked. "Was that a dolphin, hm?"

I got my answer when a large dolphin surfaced, an ecstatic kid riding it, holding on to its fin. Of course, it was the kid, but her clothes had changed once again. She was now wearing a one piece orange swimming suit with frills. I suddenly felt way overdressed. My cloak felt hot and heavy.

"Come on, old geezers! Can't you have some fun, once in a while?" Usagi-san, as a stuffed bunny, rode on the kid's shoulders, using her pigtails as reins. Neither of them were wet, even though they'd clearly been underwater.

"Yeah, let's go look for your friend!" she said. "The dolphins will help us!"

"Kid, are you telling me to ride a dolphin, hm?" I deadpanned.

"Yep! This one's name is Same," she patted her ride. "Yours will be that one," three more dolphins poked their head through the water, and squeaked cheerfully. She pointed to the one on the left, who swam up to me. "He's Unagi. Sasori-niisan will ride Sakana, and Itachi-niisan will ride Kame."

"Shark, eel, fish and turtle? Why are the dolphins named after other sea creatures?" Sasori said, half to himself, glaring down at his own ride like he'd like nothing more than to make sushi out of it.

Itachi had already gotten on his dolphin like it was the most natural thing in the world. Even though he was halfway in the water, none of it soaked his cloak or stayed on his fingers as he brought them to his face to examine them. I experimented by bending down and dipping my hand into the sea water. There was a feeling of coolness, of wetness just like real water, but when I brought it out, my hand wasn't wet at all.

I'd had just about enough of this. I had to draw the line somewhere. "No way. This is not happening, hm." I pinched myself. "Wake up, dammit! Wake, the fuck, up!"

"It's no use, Deidara." Again with Itachi and his insanely cool voice and expressionless face, why wouldn't he freak out? And Sasori, too, why weren't they rebelling, killing the kid, and finding a way to get out of here? There had to be some way, right?

I glanced down at the girl. She was staring up at me with innocent, trusting eyes. It would be simple to kill her. I wouldn't even need to use chakra. I could snap her neck with one hand. But what would happen if I did? Would everything crumble and I would wake up, as if this was nothing but a dream, or would something worse happen? I decided. I had to test it out. I stepped towards her, letting nothing show on my face. Itachi tensed and leaped off his ride towards me. I reached out and nearly touched her . . .

But then I froze. Everything froze. Itachi's foot was surrounded by still droplets stirred up by the impact of his step, his cloak was blown back, his second foot held in the air. Sasori was still. Chizu-chan was still. I couldn't move. Every muscle in my body stood perfectly still, except for my beating heart. I couldn't even breathe. Usagi-san jumped, and balanced himself precariously on my outstretched hand. His single beady black looked into mine, and he sighed.

"Sorry, blondie, but that won't work. You aren't _allowed_ to do that. Remember, I said that you have to '_obey the rules_.' One of them is '_do not harm her._' That's pretty much the only constant one, along with the one about the clock," he tapped his pocket watch. "but that one doesn't factor in, so we can ignore it. Just go with the flow, blondie. Take it as it comes. Don't look for reasons, 'cause someone like you wouldn't get it even if it was explained in small enough words."

My muscles worked once again, and I took a step back. Itachi stood, tensed, beside us, but sensing that I wouldn't do anything, took no action. Usagi-san clambered up my arm and put his face next to my ear, and whispered "Relax. This won't last forever. You have a job to do, do it properly and you can get out of here without a scratch, heck, you might even get compensated."

"What 'job,' hm?"

"Same as mine." He jumped away and walked across the water's surface to Chizu-chan, who now watched the whole exchange with quizzical eyes, not knowing the danger she had been in. But then again, had she actually been in danger? Had I ever had any chance of killing her? I stood, movements slow and shaky, eyes wide, and realized what Itachi and Sasori no Danna had realized much earlier. That there was no choice, no way to escape, but to go along with the kid and keep her happy, which now meant climbing on a dolphin named after an eel. Fighting would be useless.

I stared down at the dolphin. It cackled merrily and waved at fin at me.

"Hurry up, brat." growled Sasori. "This is humiliating enough, let's get on with it."

I groaned one final time and got on the dolphin, grasping its slippery back fin awkwardly. It was like touching wet rubber.

"Let 'go!" yelled Chizu-chan. She pointed forward. "Onward, Same, Unagi, Sakana, Kame! Onward!"

"Where to . . . whoa!" I nearly fell off when the dolphins dived. I held my breath. Was this kid crazy? We would run out of air! I opened my eyes. Under the surface I could see completely clearly, and the salt didn't sting my eyes at all. I could see all the way to the bottom, to a seafloor of white sand scattered with reefs, seashells and corals, around which a multitude of colorful fish swam. A jellyfish floated lazily by, followed by a school of fish, a handful of turtles, and a couple of other dolphins. It was a perfect representation of the sea, according to a child's picture book. Everything was bright and colorful and clear, so I half-expected all the sea creatures to spontaneously burst into song.

By now, I was running out of oxygen. I glanced at the others. Sasori was fine, Itachi had a hand clasped over his nose and mouth, and Chizu-chan seemed not to be bothered by the fact that we were underwater and should not be able to breathe. She laughed when an angelfish kissed her cheek and reached out to run her hand through a jellyfish's tentacles. Her dolphin blew bubbles that she grasped in her hands before letting them rise to the surface. Of course, she made the rules!

I took a breath. The water didn't infiltrate my lungs. I could breathe normally. Itachi followed my lead.

Chizu-chan was having a blast, riding her dolphin in loops and circles, surrounded by the colorful fish, hugging a sea turtle, and a bunch of other sea related things that apparently were fun for a little kid. She plunged to the sea floor and explored the reefs, coming face to face with an eel, picking up a starfish, and so on and so forth. I was bored out of my mind. The problem was, we didn't seem to be going anywhere. I yawned. Sasori looked like he was ready to explode. He really hated waiting, and this waiting had no purpose in his eyes, and no end in sight

Chizu-chan's dolphin swam up to Itachi and she tugged on his sleeve, pointing off into the distance.

"Itachi-niisan, look!" We all did, and saw, just close enough to be perfectly visible, a majestic blue whale. It swam, its movements slow and powerful, graceful and timeless.

"That's very nice, Chizu-chan."

"Shh!" she shushed him. "Listen!" We all listened. From far away came a series of hollow groans, chirps, and vibrating cries. It was overwhelming, a beautiful song that echoed through the water. I looked around, and everything was gone. The seabed couldn't be seen, there was no more life, the dappled light that streamed down from the surface vanishing into the darkness, and the only sound was the whale's song. Chizu-chan listened with rapt attention, her eyes half-closed. The dolphins disappeared, and so we hung in the water, neither rising to the top nor sinking to the bottom, just floating in the water as if we were weightless. The whale and its song was the only thing in the world to the girl.

Sasori glanced at me. His eyes narrowed, and he reached to shake the girl from her stupor. Itachi caught his wrist. He gave an almost imperceptible shake of the head. The whale song faded slowly as the whale disappeared.

"It's coming." Chizu-chan's voice rang out, tearing the silence to shreds. "There's a shark coming here. It's looking for us."

"How do you know, Chizu-chan?" Itachi's voice was soft, and very quiet. Usagi-san cocked an ear.

"The whale said so."

"I see. Then, we'd better let him know where we are." Itachi took out a kunai and pressed it against his palm. A thin stream of blood seeped out and mingled with the water like smoke, and soon disappeared. Seconds ticked by one after the other. I could hear my heartbeat in my throat as we waited, in the soundless ocean.

Then, from very far away a transparent creature swam at breakneck speed. It came closer, zoning in on us, and Chizu-chan clutched Sasori's cloak, as he was the closest one. He cocked an eyebrow at her and shook her off.

"Don't be scared. It's unsightly, and I don't have the patience for it." he smiled slightly. "Besides, there's nothing to be afraid of."

What arrived to us was a shark made of water, all too familiar to us. It stopped in front of us, its tail twitching.

"Kisame. He sent his sharks out to scout the area, since he appeared underwater," commented Sasori. "Smart. He should be here soon."

"This is your friend?" Chizu-chan asked. She was right in front of Kisame's shark.

"Not quite," said Itachi. "But . . ."

" . . . go away . . ." she whispered. Something was wrong. She was never quiet. I reached out and grabbed her shoulder. She turned around. Her face was white, filled with terror.

"Sharks are scary! Sharks are bad!" she yelled. With each word her face grew more distorted with fear. She slapped my hand away. Her fists tightened and every bit of her small body trembled. From far off, more sharks appeared. I clicked a button on my scope and saw Kisame swimming towards us.

"Guys! Kisame's coming, hm!"

"That's good." said Itachi. "Chizu-chan, our friend . . ."

"GO AWAY!" she screamed. Her words ripped through the water in a physical wave. "GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY! _GO AWAY_!"

Each time she screamed, the wave grew more intense. I put my arms out to ward them off, but they rang through my body, in my ears. I couldn't move. The girl was still screaming. The shark in front of her burst.

"This isn't good!" The water around Usagi-san hardened into ice, shattered, and he emerged in his young boy form.

"You think?!" I yelled. "Why is she freaking out?"

"She's a kid, of course she'd be scared of sharks, use your brain! If this keeps up, she'll make all of them disappear!"

"That's our comrade!" said Itachi, eyes half-closed in pain. "Damn it . . ." He couldn't move either. The sound waves racked our bodies, one after the other. Far away, one, then another, shark burst. Kisame was in trouble. I could see him with my scope, he was unable to move and fighting not to be overcome. When each wave swept over him, he momentarily became transparent, as if he became like his sharks, made of water. The effect faded, but lasted longer as the screams kept on coming. At this rate, he'd disappear!

"Chizu-chan! Stop it!" Usagi-san yelled. "It's no use, she won't hear."

Itachi struggled to move. He took one step, then another, straining against the water. A muscle bulged in his neck. I tried to do the same, but I couldn't. I wasn't strong enough!

"God damn it!" I yelled. "Why can't I just move?"

Itachi reached Chizu-chan. He grabbed her shoulder and spun her around, looked deep into her eyes, Sharingan whirling, and she stopped screaming. The silence was deafening. My whole body relaxed. I could move again. She hung there, eyes half-closed, a dazed look on her face.

Kisame swam to us. He was unharmed, but drew his Samehada and tried to slash the girl in half. Itachi grabbed her and jumped out of the way.

"Kisame. Stop."

"The brat nearly killed us all. Let her go."

"Not us, just you, hm."

"What do you mean?"

"There are circumstances." said Sasori. "You are not to harm her."

"You must be joking. What circumstances . . ."

"Alright, let me jump in here, time is kinda short," Usagi-san jumped in the middle, turned to Kisame, and began speaking very quickly. "You've been transported here along with your comrades, to get out you must follow the girl and obey the rules, which are whatever she wants them to be, the final goal is to find all the members, you must not make Chizu-chan sad or scared, or something bad will happen, that's the gist of it, now speaking of bad things we need to get out of here quick before it blows, so_ if_ you'll follow me . . ." He turned on his heel, twisted his finger into the water, faster and faster, until a whirlpool was formed. "Right this way."

Kisame put his sword to his throat.

"Please put that away. It'll scare Chizu-chan when she wakes up, and she's already scared of sharks. You've seen what she can do, so just follow me because we have about . . ." he glanced at his watch. "Thirty seconds before this space collapses. If you would take a look around . . ."

We did. We were surrounded by darkness, slowly creeping up on us, faster and faster. It wasn't darkness, exactly, but the absence of anything. A sort of void.

"Let's get out of here, hm!"

"That's what I've been saying, blondie. Does _no one_ listen to me?"

"Kisame, I will explain everything when we have time. Right now, we must follow the boy." Itachi said in an urgent tone.

Kisame considered it for exactly seven seconds; I was keeping count, and we were down to eight seconds. I fidgeted.

Finally, he nodded. Itachi grabbed Chizu-chan, Usagi-san held on to my cloak, and we all jumped into the whirlpool. With no time to spare, the darkness enclosed the previous space and it completely disappeared.

* * *

Review!

Peace out.


	5. Chapter 5

I'm back! I hope you'll enjoy this next chapter, and review!

* * *

We tumbled through another portal and were dumped on soft ground. I felt sand under my hands, going into my mouths. I spat it out and pushed myself up, my hands digging into soft white granules, warm from the sun. There actually was a sun now, a big yellow orb that didn't blind me even when I looked straight into it. The sky was bright blue, fading at the edges of the dark cerulean sea. Waves lapped at the shore, about ten meters to my left, frothy and white, filling the air with a soothing sound. To my right, scraggly grass grew on high dunes, but I could see a line of blurry trees beyond them. Great, so we were on a beach now? I stood up and dusted my hands and knees off.

Itachi was waking Chizu-chan up. Apparently, when she wasn't aware of things, they vanished, which is why we had to get out of there pretty fast when Itachi knocked her out. It would be bad to have that happen again. Sasori filled Kisame in, in a dead monotone, looking exhausted and frustrated, like he desperately wanted to just leave. Kisame nodded slowly, his sword digging into the sand as he gripped it tight.

"I understand . . . I suppose there's nothing to be done as this point." he said when Sasori finished. Danna shrugged.

"I'm going along with as well. I would have thought this is a dream, except that I don't sleep."

"Hum, that's a good point."

"Just go with it, that's what the stupid rabbit said anyway. Where is that thing, hm?" I looked around for Usagi-san. He was perched on Itachi's shoulder, yelling something. When the kid's eyes fluttered open, we all crowded around her. She took a deep breath and Itachi helped her sit up. She was still groggy. For a moment the scenery wavered, but it became concrete when Itachi pinched her cheek.

"Are you awake, Chizu-chan?"

"My head hurts," she slurred. She rubbed at her eye, and yawned. She raised her eyes, and caught Kisame's. Her pupils shrank with fright.

"Hello, little girl." he said. He crouched next to her. Yeah, might as well deal with it now. She'd be meeting a lot of scarier people than him. With a sudden burst of dread, I realized that most of our members were not the sort you wanted around your kids.

"S-shark . . ." she whimpered. Itachi gently turned her chin to look at him.

"Chizu-chan, this is Kisame. He's our friend, a fish-man." Itachi said completely seriously. Kisame glared at him.

"I am not . . ." Itachi silenced him with a quick look. Chizu-chan examined Kisame with eyes that were no longer frightened, but suspicious.

"What kind of fish?" she demanded. "You don't really look like a fish . . ."

"Oy, Chizu-chan!" Usagi-san jumped on her lap. "You're being really rude! What do we say when meeting someone new? You do know, don't you?"

"Yeah, but he's _not a fish_ . . ."

"Who cares? Mama would want you to be polite, and so would Oniichan, so be a good girl and introduce yourself!"

Chizu-chan puffed her cheeks, and stood up, brushing the sand off her bottom. "I'm a good girl." She faced Kisame, and stared straight at him. Even when he was crouching, he was so big that he still towered over her.

But she stood straight, heels together, clasped her hand together, and bowed politely. "My name is Amano Chizuru. Pleased to meet you."

Kisame was slightly taken aback, but he responded in kind. "I'm Hoshigaki Kisame. Nice to meet you too, Chizuru."

"Everybody calls me Chizu-chan, Kisame-san."

"I'll do that then." He grinned, baring his unnaturally sharp teeth.

Now that the pleasantries were over, she was back to being suspicious. "So, you're a fish-man? Kind of like how Sasori-niisan is a puppet-man and Dei-niisan is a girl-man?"

Kisame laughed. "Yes, little girl, let's say I am a fish. A fish with teeth."

"Alright, this is very touching, but can we move on?" Sasori drawled. "I'd like to find the others before they die of old age and I have to entertain this brat by myself."

Chizu-chan ran up to him and grabbed both his sleeves. "But I wanna play! Play with me, Sasori-niisan!" He jerked away with a look of disgust.

"You must be joking. You're quite simple minded, aren't you? We want to leave. We have no time for your games."

"But . . . it's the beach . . . I wanna build a sandcastle, and find seashell, and splash in the water . . ."

"You can do that later, when we get out of here. Get your mother or that brother the rabbit spoke of to take you to the beach. They'll be much better company, I assure you."

Tears brimmed in her eyes. She balled her fists. "But I can't . . . I can't go to the beach . . ." She wiped away at her tears. Usagi-san bounded up to her and tried to comfort her. Kisame eyed them carefully.

"Say, Itachi, the rabbit said things would get bad if the girl is upset, right?"

"Yes."

Kisame nodded and went up to Chizu-chan. He tapped her on the shoulder.

"Tell you what, kid, I'll play with you."

Her face lightened up. She beamed up at him with an ecstatic smile. "Really? Really, really?" she said, jumping up and down. He nodded. She laughed and ran towards the water, Usagi-san bounding after her. Her footsteps made small, deep indents in the wet sand. Kisame took off his cloak, his mesh shirt, his sandals, and his headband. He laid Samehada down carefully on its side, giving it a little pat. Itachi stared at him like he'd just grown a second head.

"What do you think you're doing?" he said.

"I'm going to play with a little girl." Chizu-chan was dipping her toes in the water, giggling at the cold.

"Oh, we got that, hm." I said. "_Why_, exactly?"

"Have you lost your mind?" Sasori said harshly.

"I don't understand." Kisame said. And he looked a little puzzled. "Haven't any of you played with her before?" I searched my memory.

"I carried her once, hm."

"I put on a puppet show to keep her from crying."

Itachi didn't speak, because while he had been nice to her, he'd acted more like a parent. He'd never played with her.

"Come to think of it, she's asked us to play before, didn't she, hm?"

Kisame scratched his head. "You are all a lot more oblivious than I thought. You're supposed to be playing with her. That's the point of all this. It seems obvious we were put here to keep her happy."

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"Why else? I do not understand everything. But, I understand that this little girl is the key to us getting out of here. If playing with a child is the way to achieve that, than I will gladly do it."

"Kisame-saaaan!" Chizu-chan yelled from her spot by the water. She was in up to her ankles. "What's taking so long?" She was positively radiant.

"I'm coming!" he called back. He turned back to us. "Think about this. Pressuring her to search for our comrades will do no good if she yells, and cries, especially considering who she's going to meet. Can you imagine her meeting Hidan? Or Kakuzu? Or Zetsu? No, keeping her happy will smooth things out in the long run."

Itachi seemed to think about it, Sasori looked like he'd had something bitter shoved down his throat, and I realized that I really might have to lower myself to splashing in the water with a seven year old girl. I face palmed. We were Akatsuki, damn it! Fearsome, deadly, S-ranked ninja! The Akatsuki does not play with children!

In the end, Kisame was the only one who went to play. The three of us watched from the beach, sitting in the warm sand. They splashed, Kisame picked her up and tossed her in the water, and she swam like a dog paddling. After a while of that, she raced out and found a good spot, closer to us, where the tide had gone away and left wet sand, ideal for castle building. Shovels and buckets magically appeared, and they began to build. It was quite a big castle. Chizu-chan worked relentlessly, ordering Kisame around in her high-pitched voice, commands he obeyed with a chuckle here and there. When they were done, they went hunting for seashells. They found a lot, rather stereotypical ones I was sure couldn't be found around here. She put a spiral shaped one next to her ear and laughed, claiming she could hear the ocean.

They decorated the castle, which stood six feet high, and Kisame lifted her so she could put the starfish right on the pointed top. He congratulated her gravely and she reciprocated with a polite bow of thanks. He hoisted her on his shoulders, to her delight, and they came back to where we were sitting. Neither of them had a grain of sand clinging to them.

"Are you done?" Sasori said acidly.

"One more thing." said Chizu-chan. Her cheeks were flushed pink, her eyes bright and sparkly. She looked like she's just had the time of her life. "We gotta make it go down."

"You mean, destroy it?" said Itachi, standing up. Sasori looked affronted.

"Why would you destroy it? It may not be art, but . . ."

"'Cause Oniichan _said_ that's the best part!" she said from her perch on Kisame's shoulders. It was so annoying having to look up at her. "We go swimming, make a castle, gather seashells, and then we kick it down before the sea can do it!"

It sounded like she was following a formula. Sort of like she'd never been to the beach, but planned to go, and had a detailed plan for when she would. Yet, she had said she couldn't go to the beach. From the look on Itachi's face, I could tell he thought the same thing.

"Kisame-san! Let 'go!"

"Want help, Chizu-chan?" he said as he carried her back to where her castle stood. He grinned. "Does Chizu-hime need help bringing her castle to its knees?"

"I'm a princess?" she gasped. He put her down.

"You've got a castle." he picked up a bit of seaweed and put it on her head. "And now a crown."

She giggled as the slimy green tentacles drooped over her eyes. "I'm not a princess! But I want to meet one. I'm sure one of your friends is a princess, right?"

He grinned in turn. "Well, I wouldn't say she's a princess, but we do have a friend who's a woman."

Chizu-chan got really excited at that. "She'll be the princess then! With a real castle and a pretty gown, and a tiara, too, and her prince will come save her from the dragon, and they'll kiss and live happily ever after!"

Kisame guffawed and ruffled her hair. The seaweed was knocked aside. "That may be so. Until then, you're the princess, Chizu-hime. Now, will you knock your castle down?"

"I will."

With a yell, she kicked it. It didn't do much.

"Come on and help!" Kisame yelled over to us. After a moment's consideration, Itachi and I got up and proceeded to thrash Chizu-chan's huge castle. Sasori refused, claiming he'd get sand in his joints, even though the sand here never adhered to you. We did most of the work, but Chizu-chan was very pleased, and the sun was setting over the ocean. It was beautiful, staining the water red, pink, orange and yellow, like it was on fire. That was a very strange experience. Kicking a kid's sand castle down as the sun set and Sasori sulked in the back, our shadows growing longer, getting showered with warm sand, the kid kicking at it with all her might, as if she had never used her legs before and never would again. In the end, it was reduced to a misshapen pile of sand, destroyed, as all art should be.

Before we left, I picked up the pink spiral shell Chizu-chan had listened to earlier. It was large enough to fit comfortably in my palm, shining, the inside shimmering like mother-of-pearl. I set it against my ear, and I really could hear the waves crashing on the shore.

I slipped in in my pocket. We climbed over the dunes at the trees beyond. It was a thick forest, stretching out as far as the eye could see, but with that now characteristic discoloration where it met the sky. Chizu-chan's outfit changed. She now wore trousers, boots, a warm jacket, and her hair was tied back in a ponytail. We plunged into the forest, following the rabbit and his inexorably moving pocket watch.

* * *

Review!

Peace out.


	6. Chapter 6

Next chapter's up. Hope you enjoy it, and review!

* * *

Chizu-chan skipped ahead among the trees, sunlight streaming dappled through thick green leaves. It danced with the wind's play, illuminating in uneven patches the bed of richly scented earth. The trees were tall, an even brown, and disappeared when they were touched, like misty pillars. They grew so thick that the depths of the forest couldn't be seen, but the scent was so strong it overpowered everything. Fallen rain, rotting leaves, rich earth all combined, filling the air and stirred by the wind, it covered everything like a thick blanket. The ground underfoot was soft, and gave way without a sound. It was so quiet, so unnaturally quiet. No birds, no wild calls, no rustle of leaves even though they were stirred by the wind, no whistle of moving air. Only the scent and the vague unreal images of trees made up the forest.

But Chizu-chan didn't mind. This was exactly as she remembered it, when she'd gone with her family on that camping trip, was it three years ago, two? Or maybe four, who knows, it was so vague she couldn't be sure it had even happened. No matter, this was perfect. Absolutely perfect. She breathed in deeply, the sweet smell she had waited so long to taste again thick on her tongue, so refreshing and marvelous. Would they find someone else here? Another friend to play with? She hid behind a tree and peeked out, Usagi-san on her shoulder. The niisans were talking. They talked a lot, about stuff she didn't understand. She just wanted to play.

Itachi-nii was nice, but boring. He was always stern, and when he smiled, she felt he didn't mean it. He reminded her of her papa, although she hadn't seen him in a long time.

Dei-niisan was gruff, like a bear, and no fun at all. He said words she didn't understand, and looked at he like he thought she was a bother.

Sasori-niisan seemed to hate her. He glared, and was scary, but his puppet show had been so much fun! Maybe she could get him to play some more, if she tried a little harder?

Kisame-san was her favorite. He seemed scary at first, but he wasn't a shark, so it was alright. Although, she wasn't convinced he was a fish. But he'd played with her! At the beach, that had been so much fun!

Right now, they were still talking, arguing, maybe? Dei-niisan was almost yelling at Itachi-nii, who had his eyes closed and frowned like his head hurt. Sasori-niisan wasn't listening, he was whispering to Kisame-san. Nobody cared that she wasn't there. That made her angry. She puffed her cheeks.

Crouching down, she set Usagi-san in front of her, and put a finger on her lips.

"Shh! Usagi-san, we're going to play a trick, 'kay?"

He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? What kind of trick?"

"We're going to disappear." She giggled. "Like hide and seek, see? Let's make them look for us!"

"Good girls don't run off, Chizu-chan."

"I don't want to be a good girl right now. I want to play."

"Don't be childish. Run back to them this instant." Usagi-san admonished her.

"I don't want to!" she whined. "I'm bored, and I want to play! Come on!" She grabbed him, and hugging the wriggling pink rabbit to her chest, ran off among the shifting trees.

* * *

I got the feeling something was wrong when it started getting darker. The sun was still shining through the leaves, and the trees still had an odd tendency to disappear whenever I touched them, but things were darker. Like, fainter, maybe? Or fuzzy, and definitely more somber.

"Where's Chizu-chan?" Kisame asked suddenly. We looked around, and she wasn't anywhere.

"Don'know, hm."

"This is not good." said Itachi. "When was the last time you saw her?"

"She ran off a while ago." Sasori answered airily.

"And you didn't think to tell us that?" said Kisame, an angry look on his fishy face.

"What of it? As long as she doesn't wander too far off, it's fine."

"Danna, she's gone too far. It's starting to get dark."

"We'd better find her." said Itachi. "We should stick together. No use getting isolated."

As a group we moved, calling for the girl, as twilight fell on the forest and the scent, previously so strong, began to fade.

* * *

Chizu-chan ran through the trees, her breath coming in shallow gasps. Behind her, she faintly heard voices calling her, and grinned. They were chasing her! This was like hide and seek, how fun!

"That'll teach 'em! I'll hide, and I won't let 'em find me!" She laughed, and half sang. "Hide and seek, hide and seek, I'll win for sure you'll see! Even Oniichan said it, I'm the best at hide and seek! Don't you think so, U-sa-gi-san?"

Usagi-san clung to her shoulders, expressing his discontentment with a sullen silence. She didn't wait for a response and ran among the trees, finally bursting through the forest into a wide clearing. The sunlight was strong and bright, and thick, jewel green grass rippled like water in the soundless wind. This would be the perfect place to set up camp, or have a picnic, or take a nap, Chizu-chan thought. And this might be a good place to wait for the niisans to catch up, because she was getting a little bored now. However, in the middle of the clearing, a strange thing poked up from the ground. It was green, and had two spiky halves closed together. She inched closer. It was covered in a cloak, the same one as the niisans wore, red clouds on black.

* * *

I yelled the brat's name for the hundredth time. This was getting frustrating; we could hardly see anything anymore!

"I blame _you_, Danna, why didn't you tell us she ran off?"

"And why didn't you notice she wasn't here?"

"We thought she was a well behaved child." said Itachi. "Evidently she can be naughty as well."

"Maybe she got lost." said Kisame, a little defensive.

"Hah, there's no way the kid would get lost here." I said. "I doubt anything bad would happen unless she wanted it to, hm. No, this is on purpose. Damn brat is making fun of us."

With that, we stopped talking and continued searching. We tried, but we couldn't even tell where we had started from. The trees weren't static, and there were no tracks to follow. All we could so was call, and hope she heard, before it was too late and we were swallowed by darkness.

Then, as I squinted, I saw a light shining in the distance. Coming out of it were two figures, a very tall one and a short one, walking side by side, hand in hand.

* * *

Chizu-chan stared up at the thing with wide eyes. It looked like a plant, what was it called again? One of her friends at the hospital had one, a Virus fly trap? As she watched the two halves opened up, slowly, to reveal a rather strange face, one half black, one half white, and green hair. He looked down at her. She stayed very still, blinking slowly.

"Hello." he said.

"Hello." she answered. There was silence.

"**Well, speak up! What do you want, little girl?"**

She jumped at the change in tone, and tilted her head to the side. "Are you one of the niisans' friends? You have the same cloak as all of them."

"**What? Speak sense**. I'm sorry, who are you talking about? Oh, our name is Zetsu."

"I'm Chizuru. Itachi-nii, Dei-niisan, Sasori-niisan, Kisame-san, they're looking for their friends. It started out with just Itachi-nii and Dei-niisan, but there are a lot more of them now. Are you another friend? Zetsu-niisan?"

He looked at her with no expression, as if he was considering something. Suddenly the white half of his face smiled. "I see. Are you traveling with our friends, then?"

"Uh-huh. We're looking for their friends so they can go home."

"And who are you? **What are you doing here, little girl**?"

"Me? I don't know." she frowned. "I want to have fun is all. But no one will play with me! Except Kisame-san, but he might be a shark."

Zetsu laughed. "Yes, he might be. **Hurry up and take us to them! We don't have all day!**"

Chizu-chan giggled and tugged on his cloak. "We've got time. Usagi-san, show him."

The rabbit jumped on her head, gave Zetsu the evil eye, and showed him the pocket watch. "We've got until both hands are on twelve." he said sullenly. "And don't ask me anything else! I'm sick of being unappreciated for all the work I do around here! I work and work and work, thanklessly slaving away, and what do I get? Ignored, _that's_ what I get! By you, those mean freaks, oh you can bet my employer will hear of this just as soon as I figure out who it is!"

She ignored him and he bounded away in front of them on the trail that had appeared. Zetsu raised an eyebrow at the fact that a pink stuffed rabbit was screaming nonsense at him, but figured he would get his answers when he met up with his fellow members. The girl had a bit of his cloak in her tiny fist and led him back amongst the trees.

She took wide steps in an attempt to stay ahead of him, but her legs were too short. Zetsu kept passing her and feeling her tugging on his cloak, stubbornly refusing to let go. Finally she settled for half-walking, half-skipping. Zetsu watched her, half-amused, half-bored depending on which half you felt inclined to consult.

"Are you two different people?" she asked suddenly. She looked up at him. "Are you a Virus fly trap? How did you get it to grow? Why is your hair green? Kisame-san's got a weird hair color too, but he's a shark, or a fish, so it's alright. Are you a plant, niisan? Do you eat dirt? Do you . . ."

"**We eat people**." the black side snapped.

"I don't think that would taste very good. Are you two people?"

"Yes, you could say that," the white half smile indulgently.

"Then you need different names. Let's see . . . white will be Shiro-kun, and black will be Kuro-san. Together, they make Zetsu-niisan!"

"**That is the dumbest . . .** yes, that's right. Although, no one's ever called us that, Chizuru."

"Grownups call me Chizu-chan."

"But it's such a nice name! Can you write it?"

"Uh-huh." She let go of his cloak and grabbed a stick that lay nearby. Crouching, she scratched two kanji in the dirt, painstakingly tracing each stroke.

"**Smart, kill time**," Kuro-san said sarcastically. Shiro-kun hushed him. Zetsu bent down to look at her drawing.

"The first one is 'thousand' and the second is 'crane,' see?"

"That's lucky. Cranes are a symbol of longevity, you know. They live for a thousand years."

"I know. Oniichan told me." she looked down at the kanji. She stood abruptly, and rubbed her foot over them, kicking up a cloud of dust. She bit her lip angrily. "They're no good. I won't live for a thousand years anyway.

"**Of course not. You're human, little girl, humans are perishable and don't live that long. But I guess a child like you wouldn't understand death.**"

She looked him straight in the eye, with a very sad look in her dark blue orbs. "It's when you can't wake someone up, right?"

"Something like that."

"I'm going to die too." she declared.

"Someday. But you're young, you've got a while to go."

She considered that, and nodded, smiling once more, although it seemed a little melancholic. "Yeah, I've got a long time, so it's alright. Let 'go!"

She grabbed his hand and ran on light feet, a carefree laughter ringing out, heading towards her friends, bringing yet another piece of the puzzle.

* * *

"Where have you been, kid?" I yelled. "It's dangerous to wander off like that!"

"But I'm fine."

"Not for you, for us! You damn ignorant little bitc . . ."

"What he's trying to say," Kisame smothered me with one of his oversized hands. "Is that we were worried."

"Chizu-chan." Itachi kneeled down so that he was eye level with eye. "Do not run off again. Do you understand?"

She bit the inside of her cheek, hands clasped behind her back, rocking on the balls of her feet, and made puppy dog eyes at Itachi. Damn, the kid was actually cute, and I think she knew it. Imagine what she'd do when she grew up.

"I understand." she finally said. "But I'm happy I did it. I got another friend back, see?" She tugged on Zetsu's cloak. The plant man looked very confused at all of this. Itachi summed it up quickly, and Zetsu nodded.

"We understand. **This is crazy. Completely crazy**. How many of us are missing?"

I counted on my fingers. "Me, Itachi, Sasori-no-danna, Kisame, and now Zetsu, that makes five. We're about halfway done, we're missing Hidan, Kakuzu, Konan, Leader. You think that annoying guy Tobi got sent here?" I snickered at the thought. "Hey, maybe we can leave him here."

"I doubt he is here," Itachi said. "He is not a full member."

I shrugged with a huff. "Well anyway, only a few more to go and we can get the hell out of here, hm."

Chizu-chan rocked back and forth. "But won't it be sad to have to go back? We won't see each other ever again!"

Itachi gave her an indulgent smile and kneeled down to face her. "It'll be fine. You have a home to go back to, and we have important things to do, and we must go back to finish them. Don't you want to go back home? To see your mother, father, and your Oniichan again? I'm sure they miss you."

She bit her lip and lowered her gaze. "I don't want to go back. But," a bright smile illuminated her face. "I've got to, right? So I'll have as much fun as I can before it ends!"

Itachi rubbed the top of her head. "You're a good girl, Chizu-chan. Now, can you tell us where to go next?"

She beamed at the praise and pointed off among the trees. There, I saw some movement, and I squinted. Then my heart dropped to my stomach and I felt like throwing up.

"Not that again, hm!"

"What is it? **What the hell's the matter with you?**"

"You'll see," said Sasori, already starting towards it. "It will be a very unpleasant experience for you bags of flesh. Come on, don't dawdle."

Chizu-chan took a step after him and grabbed his wooden hand. He looked down at her like she was mold growing on his joint. "Unhand me, child."

"So we don't get separated. We should all hold hands." Her blue eyes were frank and stared unflinchingly at Sasori. The kid was getting bolder.

"That's a good idea, kid." Kisame's laugh rumbled. He took her other hand. "Let's do it."

"This is humiliating, hm."

So Itachi held hands with Sasori, I with Kisame, and Zetsu with Itachi, forming a long chain, just in time for the portal to grow and swallow us whole. Again I was crushed and stretched and tossed around with howling wind and a child's echoing laughter in my ears, holding on with all my strength to the hand. This time though, I dared to open my eyes. Everything was a swirl of light and colors, like the inside of a kaleidoscope. Various images flashed before me, too quick for me to make them out, but it seemed Chizu-chan could. I looked over and saw her nod once. Her eyes were bright with excitement.

Then, we were spit out right into a hot spring.

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Review!


	7. Chapter 7

I'm updating early, aren't I? Well, I should mention that this story is not going to be very long. Maybe another five chapters or so?

Anyway, review!

Notes on this chapter: a ryokan is a traditional japanese inn, and Kemari is a ball game. You can look both terms up on Wikipedia is you have to.

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I stood waist deep in hot water, steam rising like a shifting curtain around me. I was drenched to the bone, my hair hanging limp around me; I pushed back my bangs, but they still clung to my face. Where the heck were we _now_? I observed my surroundings. We were in a hot spring, and I couldn't see anyone else. Through the fog I glimpsed the stone edges, distant and half transparent. I groped my way through the steam, splashing, my heavy cloak weighing me down. Finally I touched solid stone. I hoisted myself out of the pool and everything cleared up. Everyone was already out, and Chizu-chan was running at the edge like a lunatic, her damp hair streaming behind her. She wore a blue cotton yukata with a pattern of cranes, and geta clogs. Usagi-san had transformed, at some point, and was dressed the same way. They seemed to be . . . playing tag. On the edge of a pool.

It seemed Itachi had the same thought as me. "Chizu-chan, don't run, you'll slip!" He called after her. Just at the moment, Usagi-san slid and hit the ground hard. She helped him up and he pushed her in the pool. She emerged, dripping, and tried to do the same to him, but he skipped out of reach. She puffed her cheeks. In a moment she was completely dry, and running back towards us. She grabbed Kisame's cloak.

"Kisame-san! Usagi-san was mean, throw him in the pool!"

"Hey!" the rabbit protested. "Tattle-tale! Going crying to the grownups!"

She stuck her tongue at him. "You . . ."

"This is getting boring." I heard Sasori mumble. He whipped his hand through the air, and Usagi-san took the plunge. Chizu-chan laughed and pointed. Itachi gave her a little tap on the head.

"It's rude to point."

She lowered her finger. Usagi-san climbed out of the pool and glared at Sasori, who smirked.

Time to go back to more serious matters. "I'm guessing we're supposed to find someone, hm."

"It would seem so. But who?"

"I'm hungry." Chizu-chan announced.

"Do we care?" Sasori drawled.

"Actually, me too." Kisame admitted. Itachi's eyes widened.

"So am I."

At that moment, I realized I was also hungry, which was odd. If this was a dream, weren't we not supposed to be hungry, or sleepy? Come to think of it, how long have we been here? We haven't eaten, slept, or even needed to use the bathroom in all this time. And now we were suddenly hungry? Chizu-chan had something to do with this, but then, she had something to do with all of this. If she wanted to enjoy a meal, it only made sense we were made to participate.

I cleared my throat. "I could go for some food, hm."

"Let 'go!" Chizu-chan marched us inside through a sliding door in a building I could have sworn wasn't there before. I couldn't see any more of it because of the steam. Evidently, it was a ryokan. We took off our shoes and cloaks, and a faceless woman wearing a kimono and an apron escorted us to our rooms. Before we left I looked back outside; there was nothing but darkness. I slammed the door with a shudder and hurried to catch up with the group.

We had a large room, floored with tatami mats, with a long low table set in the center. A vase of White Egret Flowers was set in a low alcove, under a hanging scroll of flying cranes. I opened the door to the balcony. We were on the first floor, so it jutted out into a rock garden, sand artfully raked, mist clinging to everything.

"Come and see this." Kisame had opened the closet where the futons would normally be, and found five yukatas, in our sizes.

"Are we supposed to wear them?" Sasori asked scornfully.

"**Of course, what are you, brain dead?**"

"Chizu-chan," Itachi said. "Why don't you go play in the garden while we change? We'll join you soon."

"Okay!" And the kid ran off. But, before leaving, she turned around. "Are you going to come?"

"Of course. Does it look like we'd lie to you?" Kisame grinned. Usually Chizu-san smiled back, but this time there was no hint of a smile in her eyes.

"Grownups lie." And she ran out.

We changed into the yukatas. I kept my armor on underneath, just in case, and I noticed the others doing the same. The exception to all of this was Zetsu; his plant parts prevented him from wearing the yukata-he hadn't even been able to remove his cloak.

Now that I thought about it, a bath sounded like heaven. A meal, a hot bath, some sake, and a good night's sleep, and who knows, maybe I'd actually wake up. In the meantime, better go join the kid.

Sasori refused to come. He sat at the table in the seiza position, back straight as a rod, dignified, closed his eyes, and declared he would stay here. Kisame grabbed him by the collar and dragged him anyway, kicking and screaming like a four year old. I snickered and he shot me a death glare. Itachi sighed.

In the garden, Chizu-chan was holding a Kemari ball. "Let 'play!" she said, holding it up. It had been ages since I'd played Kemari; ninjas don't play ball.

"I will not . . ." Sasori's protests were muffled, and we formed a circle. She threw it in the air, and kicked it. It fell to the ground after three hits, and she passed it to Itachi.

He kept it for a long time. We were starting to get bored when he passed it to Kisame. And so on and so forth, all of us were capable of keeping the ball in the air (being ninjas and all), so it was a little unfair for Chizu-chan, but she never complained. She only did her best when it was her turn.

As the game went on, I grew hungrier. I began to wonder when it would finally be over. I think everyone else was thinking to same thing, but looks from Itachi and Kisame kept us at it as long as Chizu-chan was still focused. And she focused for a _long_ time. She seemed to be having fun, but not in a laughing out loud way, but in a this is engrossing way. She was absorbed by the movements of the ball in the air, and did her very best.

Eventually, the faceless woman came. She bowed, and Chizu-chan let the ball fall to the ground. The air, previously filled with the muffled sounds of the ball being hit, went completely silent.

"It's time to eat." Chizu-chan announced. And with that, she led us back inside. As soon as I stepped out of the garden, it was like the game had been a dream. Everything had been dulled by mist, the rough sound of geta clogs on sand, Chizu-chan heavy breathing as she struggled to do as well as we did, everything seemed to dissolve till the memory was as distant as if it had taken place ten years ago. I shook my head, trying to clear my mind.

In the room, food had been laid out at the table. It was colorful, many dishes elaborately made, lined up, with a vase of cherry blossom branches and sweet pea in the middle. It was pretty, but not appetizing, more like an artful painting than something designed to be eaten. I looked down at Chizu-chan. She was looking at the food like she couldn't see it. She walked over and plucked the cherry blossom branch from the vase. The food disappeared.

And with it, our hunger. I wasn't hungry anymore. Neither was Chizu-chan, apparently. She stretched, boredom beginning to take root in her eyes. At that, Usagi-san jumped on the table.

"Why don't you go take a bath?" he suggested. "A nice, hot bath, in the hot springs, doesn't that sound good?"

It did. She brightened up immediately.

"Why don't we all go together?" Itachi suggested.

"Not me, the water has already done damage to my body. I will be staying here." Sasori moved to sit at the table.

"No, you won't. You can sit on the edge. Come on, puppet boy, let's go." Again, Sasori was caught by the collar and dragged along by Kisame, Zetsu chuckling in two voices. Chizu-chan led the procession, skipping happily. I was also, for perhaps the first time since I'd woken up, happy. I wanted that bath.

As we walked down the hall, she stopped, and looked to the right. She didn't move.

"Chizu-chan?" Itachi said. "What's wrong?"

Without another word she took off, running as fast as her little legs could carry her.

"What the . . ." I ran after her. She was intent on something. Kisame, dragging Sasori, Zetsu, one half still laughing at the puppeteer, and Itachi followed close behind. Chizu-chan led us deep into a maze of sliding doors and tatami mats, turning right, left, going straight, in a seemingly random way. Her cheeks flushed, and a large smile beamed on her face. Usagi-san clung to her shoulders.

She stopped so abruptly that we all went skidding ten feet beyond. She pushed a door open with a broad smile.

"Found d'ja!" she squealed.

"Ah? Who the fuck are you, kid? Who said you could come in, huh? Learn to fucking knock, dumb bitch."

Oh _hell_ no.

I took a look inside. Hidan was sprawled across a cushion, his yukata half open, drinking sake. Empty bottles littered the room, and by the red flush on his face he was drunk. I cringed as he let out a string of vile expletives, looking down in horror at the kid before sighing in relief; Zetsu had covered her ears. She looked puzzled.

"Hidan." Itachi stepped into the room, gingerly to avoid stepping on the bottles.

"Oh, it's the Uchiha, huh? What the heck are you all doing here? This is _my_ dream. Where the fuck do you get off barging into _my_ dream, huh?" He took another drink.

"What happened?"

"Heh, can't hurt to tell. I wake up, and I'm in front of a ryokan, kind of like one in my home village, and you see, I hate hot springs, so I decided to sacrifice the staff to Jashin. Only nobody freaking dies!" He shuddered. "I stabbed them, stabbed myself, drew on the wall, I'm sure I tore the damn place down once or twice."

"Then how come it's still standing?" Kisame asked.

"How the fuck should I know?" the Jashinist yelled. "You think I got a fucking clue what's going on here? Well, I fucking don't! I got tired of killing, or not killing, so I thought I'd drink myself into oblivion and wake up somewhere where people will actually fucking _die_!" He took a drink straight from the bottle, a trickle of sake running down the corner of his mouth. "And you guys can piss off. This is _my _dream, get your own, dammit."

"We need to sober him up." Itachi whispered to us when he came back.

"How do you suggest we do that?" Sasori said. "I say we let him pass out. I'd be less noisy at least."

"No, **idiot. We need all of us to get out, remember?** Yes, Itachi is right."

"Maybe if we dump water on him?" Kisame suggested.

"That'll only make him mad, hm. You don't want to see him mad, hm, he'll try sacrificing all of us, including the kid!"

"That wouldn't be good," the shark man mused.

I rolled my eyes. "You think?"

"We need to think of something. Sasori, is there a medicine you can make?"

"Without equipment? No." Sasori's response was immediate.

Chizu-chan tugged on my cloak. "Not now, kid. We're busy."

"Dei-niisan!"

"Be quiet!" Sasori snapped.

"No!" she yelled. Hidan's turned his gaze towards us.

"Oy! What's with the noise over there?"

We crowded around Chizu-chan.

"Keep your voice down, hm!"

"Why?" Oh, why did she have to be so loud!

"Just, be quiet, okay? I'll . . . no, Sasori will show you another puppet show!"

"Like hell I wi . . ." Kisame clasped a big blue hand on Sasori's mouth.

"He will." he said through gritted teeth.

"I just wanted to say . . ." she started to speak, in a lower tone.

"Shush, Chizu-chan." Itachi said.

"I've got some medicine. Look!" She held up a bottle, indistinguishable from a bottle of sake.

"Where did you get that?"

"One of the serving ladies passed by, and I asked if she had anything. She gave this to me, she said it'll make him normal again!"

Kisame hugged her. "You clever, clever girl!" That was good thinking on her part; none of us had thought of asking the woman, heck we hadn't even noticed she was there.

Itachi took the bottle. "I'll be back."

There was another bottle on the table. I never saw how he did it, but Itachi managed to exchange them. He hurried out of there, and two seconds later Hidan was coughing and sputtering.

"Why the fuck am I sober?" he howled. Kisame rubbed Chizu-chan's head, and she grinned. Itachi and Zetsu both smiled at her. Sasori refused to do anything, and I gave her a nod. The kid smiled so brightly she could have lit up the room.

Hidan stood steadily, and glared at us. Kisame gently pushed the kid behind him while Itachi filled Hidan in on the situation. He looked at all of us with an eyebrow raised.

"I'm dreaming." he declared.

"Oh, I wish you were, hm." I said wearily. Everybody thought it was a dream at first, me included.

"Show me this brat."

Chizu-chan came out of hiding. She stared at him steadily, and he crouched down so that he was eye level with her. I unconsciously tensed, a hand going to my kunai pouch.

"Your name's Chizu-chan?"

"Yes. What's yours?"

"Hidan. Call me Hidan-sama, heathen. Count yourself lucky, Jashin frowns on sacrificing children."

"He does?" Kisame whispered to Itachi. "_I_ never knew that."

"So, kid, what are you here for?"

"To have fun!" she answered immediately. "We've got to find everybody! I don't know how many are missing, though."

"Why'd you drag us here?"

"_I_ didn't do it. I woke up, and Itachi-nii and Dei-niisan were here, and they wanted to find all their friends so Usagi-san opened a door for us. Usagi-san! Say hello!" She held him up.

"Hello, dimwit." Usagi-san said sullenly. We'd ignored him for the better part of this location.

Hidan jumped back and landed on his ass. "A talking bunny? A fucking stuffed animal is talking! Why aren't you all freaking the hell out?"

"We're used to it." Sasori said airily.

"I would appreciate it if you would temper your language. There is a child among us." said Itachi, his tone stern.

"Who the fuck cares? Like she knows what they mean!" Hidan stood and brushed himself off, looking a bit embarrassed at being the only one who freaked out.

"What _do_ they mean, Hidan-sama?" Chizu-chan asked, her head tilted to the side. "Dei-niisan said one of them before, but he wouldn't tell me what they meant."

"Ah, see! If blondie can swear, so can I! Fuck!"

Itachi glared at Deidara. "She is a _child_."

"I know, hm!"

"Why would you use such language around her? We are responsible for her well-being."

"We're god dammed shinobi, for fuck's sake! Who gives a shit if some random kid picks up a couple of bad words?"

"Hidan, just shut up." Kisame said, face in his hand.

"I would advise you to do the same." said Sasori.

"ENOUGH!" yelled Usagi-san. Everybody went silent. "I've had it with all of you! Do you know why we're here? To, take, a, bath, not to argue with some silver haired would-be priest about foul language that you know Chizu-chan would never use 'cause Chizu-chan, unlike the rest of you lot, is a GOOD GIRL! Now, my job is to make sure she's happy, and nobody would be happy listening to you ladies yap and yap and yap like grannies, so you are going to march yourselves to that pool and take a nice, long bath, or so help me I will tell my employer just as soon as I figure out who it is! And then, I am going to _sue you_! I don't for what yet, but I will SUE YOU ALL!"

That's how we ended up taking a bath at the hot springs. It felt nice, Chizu-chan was happy, Hidan shut up for two minutes, and Itachi's fear that Chizu-chan would be returned to her home cursing like a sailor was proven to be groundless. She behaved herself perfectly, sitting quietly in the bath, not running around or jumping in the water and splashing on everybody (which Hidan did).

I sipped some sake, brought to us by the faceless woman. The others, (the puppet, the Jashinist and the kid excluded) got to enjoy it as well. It was heaven, soaking in hot water with a cup of chilled sake. All that was missing was a good-looking woman.

Chizu-chan smiled lazily, the water turning her face red, her hair tied up in a messy bun. She looked perfectly at peace.

* * *

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	8. Chapter 8

Here's a new chapter. Sorry it took so long.

Review!

* * *

We left the Ryokan after changing back into our regular clothes. Chizu-chan had somehow conjured up a light blue camisole, tan shorts, and pink sandals. She had insisted Itachi tied her hair with the red ribbons she presented him, so he made two short braids. The ecstatic look on her face as they swung around her head was so cute it was sickening.

She bowed politely to the serving women who had come out to see us off, and waved, walking backwards and nearly tripping before Hidan caught her. We left by the only road there was, a wide cobblestoned highway lined with bamboo and shrouded in mist. She skipped ahead happily.

"I wonder where we'll go next." wondered Kisame.

"So far there has been no logic to our change in location." said Itachi.

"We should be almost done." Sasori drawled. "There's only Kakuzu, Konan, and Leader to go. That's three."

"We can count, puppet boy." said Hidan.

"Now, **don't fight, idiots.**"

"You . . ."

"Hey!" Chizu-chan called. "I found the door!"

"Great, we can get out of here." said Sasori.

"I'm more worried about where we're going, hm."

"What's the worst that could happen?"

"The worst? We could end up . . . oh forget it, I don't even know."

"Then don't talk."

The door was there, big and wooden, standing straight in the middle of the path despite the lack of a wall. The mist swirled around as it slowly creaked open, revealing a pure black interior. Chizu-chan was already in front, one finger hovering over the darkness. She prodded it, and it stuck to her fingertip like jello, clinging then letting go with a soft _plop _and ripples. She giggled, and touched it again.

"Chizu-chan, don't play with it." Itachi said. He held out his hand, and she took it. We formed a chain, holding hands, and I ended up at the far end of it. Hidan looked at my outstretched hand with disgust.

"Screw that. I'll take my chances. I don't want your hand slobbering all over me."

"I'll close the mouth, hm."

"I don't care."

"**Would you two cut it out?"** Zetsu growled.

"Oh, beat it!"

"You're being childish." said Kisame.

"I'm not touching that guy's slimy hand!"

Chizu-chan walked up to him and tugged on his cloak.

"What do you want, kid? I'm telling you, there's no way I'm touching . . ."

She held out her hand.

"Hidan-sama, let's go."

The expression on his face was priceless. When he took her extended hand, having to bend a little to do so, her hand seemed tiny in his.

She went back to the door, took Itachi's hand in her free one, and jumped headfirst into the heavy darkness. We were dragged along, and what followed what the now familiar sense of being pulled squeezed and stretched. Along with Chizu-chan's laughing was Hidan's confused howling and Kisame's chuckling. Zetsu was mumbling to himself, I could hear Sasori grinding his teeth, and then it was over.

I opened my eyes to a low-lit room where slow jazz music played. I blinked, a bit confused. We were in what looked like . . . a bar. Or a casino. Or a weird mash up of both. Several booths lined the left wall, a couple more tables were scattered around; there was a dart board, a billiard table, a poker table, and various other gambling games. A bar was against the far side, the wall covered with alcohol bottles, the labels fuzzy and unclear. A man with no face wiped the counter mechanically, like a doll going through the motions.

The floor was honey colored hard-wood, the walls painted red and the low ceiling black. I stood, looking around, and spotted no door. Kisame muttered a curse as he banged his head on a low hanging light, and Hidan laughed at him. And, lo and behold, who was sitting at the poker table, playing with a handful of faceless men? Everyone's favorite miser, Kakuzu.

He was engrossed in his game, so much so that he didn't bother to respond when Itachi tapped his shoulder. He simply grunted, not even sparing a glance. We all crowded around the table. From my vantage point, I was able to see one of his opponent's hands, but the cards were blank.

"Oy, Kakuzu! Get your head out of your ass and let's get out of here! OY! Are you listening to me, fucking heathen?" Hidan slammed his hands on the table. The chips didn't rattle.

"Maybe he thinks he's dreaming and is taking this opportunity to ignore us. And make money." Sasori observed drily.

"How obsessed with money can one person get, hm?" I said. I hardly knew Kakuzu; he was the Akatsuki's accountant, so we didn't often cross paths. I knew he was fond of money, but that much?

"Believe me, I work with the guy." said Hidan, crossing his arms. "This is typical. Just fucking typical."

The game progressed. Kakuzu showed his hand, and in front of my eyes, the player's cards changed into a winning hand. Kakuzu cursed under his breath. But the player didn't take the chips that were in the middle. Instead, they were evenly redistributed, and another game started. A faceless man shuffled, another came over from the bar to give them drinks, and they were back on. The same thing happened again. The faceless men always won, always with blanks hands that became whatever was necessary. And again.

Kakuzu barely blinked. He cursed, and restarted the game.

"He's stuck in a loop, hm." I said, realizing suddenly as the fifth game started.

"I agree. He is playing an unending game that he cannot win." Itachi said, frowning. "This will go on forever."

"Or until he gets a Royal Flush. The highest hand possible." said Hidan. He shrugged. "Like that'll happen anytime soon."

"I need a drink," said Kisame, lumbering over to the bar, which was suddenly right next to us. He ordered some sake and was served immediately. I had half a mind to join him.

"What's he doing?" Chizu-chan asked. Even standing on her toes, she could barely see over the table. "Hidan-sama, who is he?"

"That's my partner, his name's Kakuzu. And don't go calling him niisan, unless you want your heart torn out."

"So, Kazuku-san?"

"No, Kakuzu."

"Kazuru-san?"

"Don't you listen? Ka-ku-zu!"

She still didn't get it. He ran his hand through his silver hand. "Just call him Kuzu. Can you get that?"

"Kuzu-san?"

"Yes, that'll be fine." Itachi interjected, even though it probably wouldn't be. Hidan shrugged and went over to the bar.

"So, what's Kuzu-san doing? I can't see."

"He's playing poker. It's not a game little girls can play."

"Oh. What's Kisame-san drinking over there? And Hidan-sama, what's he drinking?"

"Alcohol, kid." I said.

"Can I have some?"

I made a quick mental calculation. "In about fifteen years."

"Why?"

"Only grownups can drink alcohol."

Chizu-chan frowned. "I want to grow up." she announced.

"Of course you do. You shouldn't, kid, take my word for it, hm."

"But I _want_ to grow up!" she insisted. "I really, really, _really _want to grow up! Even if it's only for a little bit!"

"Why are you telling me? _I_ can't do anything about it, hm."

Itachi was watching our exchange. Him, the kid, and I were the only ones next to Kakuzu's table (he was on his seventh game by now). The others were either drinking at the bar (Kisame, Zetsu), shooting some pool (Hidan), or watching Hidan with dead eyes (Sasori). The kid was getting more and more worked up, cheeks flushed, little fists balled. She was adorable, and I can't believe I just thought that.

Itachi frowned. I kept telling her that she would have to wait to grow up, but she wasn't having any of it. She kept insisting, and insisting . . . In retrospect, I should have seen what happened coming a mile off. As the bunny (where _was_ the bunny, anyway?) was so fond of saying, Chizu-chan being happy was a key element of us not vanishing down a black hole. Her wishes were the world's command.

One instant, a scrawny kid was standing there, barely reaching up to my waist. Next, there was a flash of light, a gust of wind, and a girl my age was standing there.

It was as if the kid had grown up. Her face was still recognizable, if much less round and much more refined, her eyes deep dark pools framed by thick black lashes. Her hair, black with blue highlights, flowed down her back, accentuated by a light blue bow. She wore a black knee length dress with spaghetti straps and black flats, and a simple necklace with a teardrop shaped blue crystal on the end of a silver chain. She had . . . developed in other ways too.

I stood, completely shocked, as she squealed and looked herself over. The others looked over. Kisame did a spit take. In front of us, stood a fully grown Chizu-chan. Or, no, calling her that seemed a little creepy right now.

"I'm a grown up!" she laughed. "Look, see Dei-niisan, I'm a grown up now! See, Itachi-nii, Sasori-niisan, Kisame-san, Shiro-kun, Kuro-san, Hidan-sama! Look!" She spun around with a laugh, her dress flaring out around her. The cat had gotten everybody's tongue.

She was beautiful. That laugh that seemed so innocent and sweet was now gorgeous and enticing. At that thought, I mentally slapped myself. She was a kid! Even if she looked sixteen, it was obvious by her behavior that her mental age hadn't changed. She was a six year old in a sixteen year old's body, because she had wished to grow up.

She bounded away to show off to the rest of the members. Next to me, Itachi pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Of course." he said. "I should have seen it."

"Yes, probably." Usagi-san's head popped up. I jumped about a foot in the air.

"Where were you?" I yelled. "Don't scare people like that!"

Usagi-san was in his human form. He stared sullenly at the grown-up Chizu-chan. "Oh, don't be such a scaredy-cat. That was a result of her wish. She wanted to grow up, so she did."

"Did you have anything to do with it?" Itachi asked.

"Of _course_ I did! That's what I was _doing_. Obviously." Usagi-san jumped up on a bar stool and crossed his legs. He now had a pink top hat and a black magician's baton. He spun the former on the latter. "That was her wish. This particular world was set up to grant this wish. So I . . ."

"That's what all the other worlds were for!" Itachi cut across him. Usagi-san launched his hat in the air. It landed on his head.

"What, hm? Are you saying we've been running around fulfilling the kid's wishes?" I could understand making her happy because she somehow had influence over this world, but . . .

"Think about it. A visit to an amusement park, a puppet show, playing in the sea, going on a trip through the forest, _growing up_. These are all things a child might wish to do."

"But why would she need to go to a whole new world just to do these? I sort of get the underwater thing, but what kid has never been to an amusement park?"

Itachi shook his head. "I don't know. Usagi-san?"

The bunny-boy shrugged and tilted his hat down. "My job is to keep her happy. She wanted to grow up, so I set up a spell. It'll only last while we're in this world, though. After that, she'll shrink again. I don't know anything else!"

"Ah, who cares? Let's just get Kakuzu away from his game so we can go already!"

"But he's stuck in an infinite game. Who could . . ." He trailed off, and sighed. "Of course. We need to play him ourselves."

"Why?"

"Because the faceless men can control what hands they have. We just need to lose, so Kakuzu can win, get his money, and come to his senses."

"Oh, hm." I was embarrassed at not having seen that before. Itachi motioned for everybody else to gather round once again. He explained his idea.

"We need three players that won't mind losing. Kisame, Sasori, and myself."

"I want to play!" Chizu-chan piped up, a hand in the air.

"Do you know how?" Sasori said. He was the only one unperturbed by her change in appearance.

"No, but I can learn!"

And she did. By now, no one wanted to say no to her. Her change jarringly reminded us that things went the way she wanted them do. Maybe if she wished reaaally hard, we'd be turned into cats or something. She took her spot, replacing Kisame, and Sasori and Itachi sat next to her. The four players were set. The faceless men had disappeared. The chips spread themselves evenly. The cards dealt themselves.

Itachi and Sasori went in fully determined to lose. Unfortunately, once the rules had been explained to her, she enthusiastically decided to take the game seriously. And kick their asses while she was at it. Seriously, she won _every game_. And the chips didn't redistribute themselves, either, so a large pile grew next to her. She smiled happily. The look of innocence on her face was highly out of place on a sixteen year old.

"Hey, Danna, shouldn't we have told her the plan? It looks like Kakuzu is about to have a stroke, hm." I whispered to Sasori.

"Do you think _now _is the time?" he hissed back.

"Do you think she's cheating?"

"How should I know? Ask the damn rabbit."

I looked over at Usagi-san, and he shook his head.

"Chizu-chan doesn't cheat, she's having good luck."

"How do you know she doesn't cheat? She could be rigging the game unconsciously." I asked in a low voice so Chizu-chan couldn't hear.

"Ah _hah_, she could if she wanted to win. But Chizu-chan just wants to play. Winning is a lucky side effect."

"Seriously?" I raised an eyebrow. "That's a waste."

"Not for her."

After the fourth game, Sasori-no-Danna was getting impatient. His stack of chips was dwindling, and his eyebrow twitched every time cards were passed. Both him and Itachi had the advantage of having expressionless faces, Kakuzu had his mask, but somehow the kid's disarming smile was the most effective poker face. She was enjoying herself. Sasori was not. And who knew what Itachi thought about it. Kakuzu seemed to still think this was a dream and mechanically went through the motions, growling under his breath when he lost.

After ten games, I was so bored I wanted to scream, or blow something up. Kisame and Hidan had wandered off after game six, and were now trying to get drunk. Usagi-san informed them that getting drunk was not possible here. He ignored their outraged yells of 'why the hell not' and left them to experiment. Hidan did so, but no matter how much alcohol he gulped down, intoxication remained elusive. Zetsu was playing some other game. I was the only one watching the depressing game of poker these four were playing. I yawned.

Time ticked by. Sasori gave up and stormed off after thirteen games. Itachi held on, but he ran out of chips by game fifteen and was forced to step back. It was between Chizu-chan and Kakuzu.

Then, it was over. With a Royal Flush, Kakuzu won.

He sat back with a long sigh. He counted his earnings, and stood.

"Time to wake up." he said in his rumbling voice. He looked directly at Chizu-chan. She grinned.

"I guess I lost! That was fun, Kuzu-san."

He blinked. "I have no idea who you are, or why I'm dreaming about you, but this is over."

"But you're not dreaming." she replied.

"Hidan!" I hollered. "Get over here!"

Kakuzu turned his glare to me. His eyes were creepier up close. "I know you. You're that so-called artist. Sasori's partner. Why are you in my dream? I don't even know your name."

"Shouldn't you keep track of the current members?"

"My only concern is finances. I have no time for brats. Why am I not waking up?"

"Because this isn't a dream." Itachi said.

"Itachi-san? This is turning into a strange dream."

"Oy, Kakuzu!" Hidan waved.

"Charming. You too? Is the entire organization here?" Kakuzu said drily.

"Close." said Sasori. "We're still missing Leader and Konan."

Kakuzu evidently decided that he was dreaming, and had had enough of this. He pinched his arm, and shut his eyes tight. When he opened his eyes, we were still there.

"Kuzu-san?" Chizu-chan said, tilting her head to the side.

"Kakuzu-san. This is not a dream." said Itachi. "We are trapped in this world. We will be able to leave once all our organization has been found."

Kakuzu processed that for a moment, a heavy frown on his brow. I left them to discuss it and got a drink at the bar, which was now further away. I ordered sake, and took a seat on a barstool. Even if I couldn't get drunk, it tasted good.

"Gimme some."

I twitched. On my left, where I couldn't see very well, Chizu-chan had hopped on a barstool. She spun around a couple of time.

"I want some." she repeated.

"I told you before. Only . . ."

"Grown-ups can have some. I remember. But I'm all grown up now. See?"

"Oh, I saw. Fine, hm." I handed her the bottle and a cup. She poured herself a small amount, and took a sip.

"Ew!" She spit it out. "That's icky."

I laughed, and drank down my own. "I didn't think you'd like it, hm."

"You _like_ it?" Her nose wrinkled in disgust.

"Of course. That's not why I drink it, though."

"Why do you?"

"You'll figure it out when you're old enough, hm."

"But I am . . ."

"You look older, kid, but you're still a kid, hm."

She looked forlorn, a little lost. She tried taking another sip, but gagged and spit it back out.

"I'm never going to grow up!" she whined. She crossed her arms and laid her head down.

"Believe me, you'll grow up soon enough. And then you'll wish you were still a kid. I mean, what could possibly be better if you grew up, hm? Enjoy having no responsibilities kid, while it lasts."

She looked up at me sideways, slowly blinking with eyes like big, sad pools. I had never seen her look so sad.

"When I grow up, I can get married."

I stopped as I was about to take another sip, and looked back over at her. She was staring evenly at me. I placed my cup down.

"You want to get married?"

"Ah-huh. When I grow up."

"Why?"

She half-shrugged and tilted her head away. She didn't answer.

I didn't know much about little girls, much less civilian girls. Was getting married a common dream? That seemed extremely odd to me. Marriage was never a part of shinobi life. People died young and had little time for commitment and family. This was even truer of S-ranked criminals. Always on the run, ostracized, more often than not violent murderers, the idea of having a family was an utterly alien concept. The only woman rogue ninja I knew was Konan, and I had no idea what she thought of it, but it was doubtful _she_ would be getting married. World peace or whatever was her priority. To me, it had never even crossed my mind. Frankly, it made we want to laugh out loud. Marriage, seriously? But the kid looked so sad I held my tongue.

"Being a grown-up is not as much fun as I thought." she said. "Playing poker was a lot of fun, but this stuff is gross."

"There's more to being an adult than poker and drinking."

"Like what?"

Some stuff I couldn't discuss with her. "Like, having to work, and pay bills, hm."

"That sounds boring."

"It is, hm." I took another drink. This conversation was not going that well. What the hell did I know about being grown-up? I didn't have a steady job, and I didn't pay bills. I really wished this alcohol would kick in.

"Anything else?"

"Not really."

"I still want to get married. That's my biggest dream, y'know."

"Well, bully for you."

"Will _you_ marry me?"

I choked.

"Where did _that_ come from?" I half-yelled. I wiped my mouth and took a deep breath. I had to remind myself that she didn't get what she was talking about. She was a little girl with a dream, who I'd never see again once this was all over. And . . .

She looked very, very sad, and I couldn't tell if it was my reaction, or something else entirely. As I looked into her deep blue eyes, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. What could possibly make a little kid want to run around and have fun in an alternate world instead of comfortably in her own home? Why did Usagi-san, and us, have to keep her happy? Were we even succeeding? She looked so sad.

And besides, she'd forget all about this when she grew up. Nobody remembers promises they made when they were six. She'd grow up, meet a nice boy, and shrug this whole thing off as a childhood dream.

"Alright." I said. "I'll marry you, hm."

Her whole face lit up. She jerked upright.

"Really? Really, really?"

"Would I lie, hm?"

"Then, you promise? Pinky promise?" She held out her finger. I kept myself from rolling my eyes, and hooked my finger in hers. I was startled. Hers was barely smaller than mine.

"Fine. I promise I'll marry you when you grow up for real."

She chanted, "If I lie, I'll swallow a thousand needles, and cut my finger." And, break.

She smiled, and it was the happy smile that lit her face up like the sun.

"Hey!" Kisame called. "We're done here!"

We rejoined the rest of them around the poker table. Kakuzu was still frowning, but he seemed to have accepted our situation. He stared at Chizu-chan, hovering over her even though she was much taller than usual. She waved.

"I'm Chizuru! You can call me Chizu-chan."

"I don't think so."

Her smile didn't wither.

"There's a door here." Sasori said. It was against the far wall, large and made of oak. As we approached, we saw the symbol on it. A crown? And the numbers eight and nine. Chizu-chan opened it. Beyond, there was no strange portal, but a wide field of green grass. The wind blew into the room, smelling of sunshine and fresh earth.

Chizu-chan didn't bound away like she usually did. She stood, hesitant, and smoothed her hands over her dress.

"Chizu-chan?" Itachi said. "What's wrong?"

"It's almost over, isn't it?"

"Maybe." he replied. Eight and nine. Konan and Leader, to complete the set.

"I don't want it to end."

"Chizu-chan . . ."

"Now, now, don't be selfish Chizu-chan." Usagi-san said, tugging on her dress. "You have to be a good girl, okay? They want to go home. You should help them."

She looked like she was about to cry. Her fists bunched the black fabric of her dress, and her head bowed down. And then, she said something in a very small voice. I was right next to her, and I barely heard her at all. It was whispered to herself.

"But I don't _want_ to go home."

And then, she jumped out. The room melted away. We stood on a rolling hill of emerald green grass. The wind blew my hair back as if I was flying.

She stood far out in front of us. She was a child once again, wearing the same outfit was before. Her hair snapped back like a flag, deep black. She turned to us, and the crystal pendant at her throat glittered in the sun.

She smiled, spread her arms out and twirled, her black dress flaring around her.

"This feels nice! Let's go!"

Itachi smiled slightly, and took her hand. "Where to?"

She pointed in the distance. "That way. We'll meet a knight on a white horse."

* * *

I've only got a couple more chapters before the end. I never intended for this to go on as long as my other story, so I'll wrap it up soon. Thanks to everyone who read and review so far! I really appreciate it.

Review some more!

Peace out.


	9. Chapter 9

Here we go, next chapter. Enjoy, and review!

* * *

Chizu-chan led the way down the hill. On every side, as far as the eye could see, was a sea of rippling green grass. The air was fresh and smooth, and the sky was like a great pure blue bowl, without a cloud in sight. It was relaxing, and nobody was talking. Even Hidan had shut his mouth. The wind whistled through the grass.

I watched the girl walking side by side with Itachi. She looked very small in this green sea, her black dress making her skin pale, almost translucent. As if she would fade under a strong light, or scatter like flower petals under a gale of wind. I thought about my promise. What did she think about it? Why had she asked me to make that promise in the first place?

We were on top of another hill. My thoughts were interrupted when Chizu-chan ran out in front of us. Itachi's hand slipped through hers. She ran through the grass and laughed out loud, breaking the silence like fine glass. She fell and tumbled, rolling down the hill and out of sight.

I ran down after her, but when she came to a stop she sat up, hair disheveled, grass stains on her dress and one shoe missing, she grinned like there was no tomorrow.

"Stupid girl!" I yelled. "Don't scare me like that!" The rest of us ran down. Itachi picked her up, set her on her feet, and brushed grass off her dress.

"I always wanted to do that! That was so much fun!"

"Warn us first, Chizu-chan." Itachi said. Zetsu came forward with her missing shoe.

"I want to do it again!" And she did. She rolled down every hill we came across, until Kisame picked her up and put her on his shoulders, which kept her from running off, and provided her with a distraction as a bonus.

"I can see everything!" She waved her hands in the air.

And we pressed on. I was getting a little bored, but the break was nice. I was on the lookout for a 'knight on a white horse,' as were all the others. I surveyed the area with my scope, but so far there was only grass. Endless grass, and an endless sky.

"Look over there!" Chizu-chan yelled suddenly, pointing ahead. I clicked on my scope, and saw a large grey shape on the horizon. I couldn't zoom in any further, but that wasn't what the girl was pointing at.

"Is that . . ." Sasori squinted. "A white horse?"

"YES!" Chizu-chan yelled. She squirmed on Kisame's shoulders. "Yes, yes, that's it! That's the prince, we're going to go rescue the princess! Kisame-san, let me down!"

"Not until you explain."

"It's a fantasy." Usagi-san said. "Like a fairy tale. The prince on a white horse must defeat the dragon to rescue the princess."

I saw the white horse galloping towards us. There was a knight like an old-fashioned fairy tale riding, clad in a suit of brilliant armor, a red pennant snapping on his helmet. As he got closer, he tumbled down with a great crash. He rolled on his back, limbs flailing about, unable to get up.

When we got closer, the knight lifted his visor and glared daggers at us. His armor was black, and he had a shield pattered with the Akatsuki cloud strapped to his arm and a sword at his hip. Hidan laughed.

"What are you doing? Help me up this instant!" he barked. Hidan fell to his knees, holding his sides.

"Are you really a knight?" Chizu-chan asked suspiciously. "You don't _look_ very gallant."

"Who is this insolent child?"

Itachi sketched out the situation for him as Kisame and Sasori hauled him up to a seated position. He tore off his helmet and threw it away. His bright orange hair stuck up even more than usual.

"This is utterly ridiculous. Help me up, I can hardly move in this damn . . ." Kisame hauled him to his feet and he wobbled dangerously before finding his balance by grabbing his horse's saddle.

"Ridiculous, perhaps," said Itachi. "But according to Usagi-san . . ."

"Me. Hello, I'm a talking stuffed rabbit."

Pein blinked down at him. He'd transformed back into his little form, and stood at Pein's feet. The thing was brave, had to give him that.

"Are you sure this isn't a dream?"

"None of us are sure," Sasori drawled. "But we need to find Konan before it can end."

"And where is she?"

"In the castle." Chizu-chan said. She pointed to the gray lump, which was closer now. "She's the princess. You have to rescue her."

"As I was saying," Usagi-san said, irritated. "This is a fairy tale. You all have to rescue the princess."

"Is that all?" said Pein.

"I guess." Usagi-san shrugged.

"Ridiculous. I am leaving." He looked around. "Where is the exit?"

"In the castle, dumbass. You know, you're supposed to be the leader but you're not too smart, are you?"

Leader aimed a kick at the bunny, but he jumped out of reach and into Chizu-chan's arms. Hidan laughed and Kisame face-palmed.

"What do you mean, the exit is in the castle?" Sasori asked the bunny.

"The exit will appear when all of you are together. Since the last member is in there, obviously so is the exit."

"So we just have to find Konan in the castle?"

"That's what I've been saying. Don't you people listen?"

And with that, we were on our way to the castle. Leader refused to get back on his horse, so he bumbled along, clanking with every step, and Kisame hoisted Chizu-chan in the saddle. She kicked her heels and the animal walked forward patiently. Sasori grabbed the bridle just in case.

The castle loomed ahead. It was huge, with battlements, four corner towers and another shooting towards the sky, a flag snapping at the top. I clicked on my scope, and saw an origami rose, light blue on white. The tall walls were surrounded by a moat-I could see the sunlight reflected on the water. The heavy gate was down, the portcullis was up.

We arrived at the gate. Everything was quiet save for the clipety-clop of the horse's hooves on the wood. The wind had stopped blowing. We passed underneath the entrance and entered the courtyard. In front of us was the tower, the door barred. On it was the number nine, and an origami rose was carved into the wood.

"There," said Kakuzu. "Let's hurry. This dream is starting to wear on my nerves." He strode confidently across the courtyard. A shadow swept over us.

Sasori was the first to react. He grabbed the girl, slipped a scroll out of his sleeve and I didn't see the rest as a roar tore the air and a hot wave engulfed us. I quickly performed an earth-style jutsu and hid underground. When I emerged, the ground was blackened and steaming. I jumped back against the wall, and took a look.

Sasori was with the girl inside his Salamander puppet. Zetsu was emerging from the ground. Hidan stood, chest arms and face burned and blackened, but cursing just fine and starting to heal. Itachi and Kisame stood together, inside Kisame's water prison jutsu. Pein was completely unharmed; his shield seemed to have deflected the flames. Kakuzu emerged from the ground, having used a similar jutsu as me. The horse was a pile a scorched flesh and black bones.

And then, I saw it. A dragon. An honest to god, flesh and blood, _dragon_.

Huge, white, with wide translucent wings and a gaping maw showing teeth the size of swords, it roared and slammed its tail against the ground, making it shake and rumble. It snapped its head back, and I saw a gleam in the back of its throat.

"It's going to spit fire again!" I yelled. I reached for my clay, but Itachi was quicker. He shot forward, his red eyes spun, and the dragon's wing exploded in black flame. Kisame was next. He shot a water jutsu directly at its throat, extinguishing the flamed. It thrashed in agony as the flames ate at it. Itachi and Kisame moved to stand next to me, quickly joined by Kakuzu and Hidan, who complained as healthy flesh grew over the burned areas.

"Fuck! This hurts!" he yelled. "Why is there motherfucking dragon here? Huh? Maybe the bunny can explain that?"

"A fairy tale." Itachi said, eyes closed and eyebrows frowned in slight pain. "This is a fairy tale. The princess locked in her tower, guarded by a fearsome dragon."

"We can assume we must defeat it before being allowed access to the tower." said Kisame.

"With Itachi's Amaterasu, it should be over in a couple of minutes, hm." I said.

"We can hope. Where's the kid?"

"Sasori's got her."

The dragon roared. It fanned its wings, and powerful gusts threatened to knock us over. I braced myself. Amaterasu's black flames, which were supposed to incinerate anything they came into contact with, were blown out. The dragon crouched, one wing dangling uselessly at its side, black, the thin membrane completely gone, pink tendons glistening through the burned flesh. It roared and shot another spout of fire at us before Kisame could quench it. We scattered. I landed on the wall, using chakra to cling to the surface. I thrust my hands into my pouches, chewed some clay, and had two large birds ready in the blink of an eye. A hand sign, and they were zooming towards my target.

"KATSU!"

They blew up in an instant of beautiful art. The dragon turned its head to me, and it shot out, snapping. I jumped just in time to avoid being bitten in half.

"Fire-style, Fireball Jutsu!"

Itachi's fireball engulfed the dragon's head, but it shook it off. I jumped and landed next to him.

"Are you an idiot? That's a fire breathing dragon, hm! Did you think fire style would work on it?"

"No. I was distracting it from you."

"I don't need your help, hm!"

Hidan's maniacal laugh interrupted us as he charged directly at the dragon, swinging his scythe. It bit deep into its side. Blood stained the pure white scales. The dragon roared, turned around really fast for something that big, and bit Hidan's arm off.

"OW! Fucking . . . hey Kakuzu, come patch me up!"

"I have better things to do than take care of you." He had removed his cloak, and his masks were working their way free from his back, tearing the stiches off. It was the first time I had seen Kakuzu's jutsu. It was pretty impressive, though not artistic at all.

The battle went into full swing. We unleashed our jutsu, one after the other, dealing massive amounts of damage, but it only made the dragon angry. Kisame's water jutsu wasn't enough to quench the flames. Soon, the courtyard was a black and smoking wasteland. The stone of the wall and the tower glowed cherry red, but the door remained unscathed. The dragon was injured, but its wounds began to close before long. I was almost out of clay.

"This isn't how it's supposed to go . . ." I heard the girl's voice whisper, even though the dragon was roaring and the earth rumbling with its heavy footsteps. She stood among the carnage, like a wraith left over from a war. Her expression morphed from frightened, to desperate, to angry in the blink of an eye.

"STOP!" she yelled. The dragon froze, the jet of fire coming from its mouth hanging in midair. We couldn't move. Chizu-chan held her ground, legs braced and Usagi-san held tight in her arms. Her eyes were a vivid splash of color against the black of her dress, hair, and the charred ground, and the white of her skin and the dragon's scales. She was furious.

"It's not supposed to go this way! Stay out!"

"I can move . . ." Pein said. He took a step forward.

"Chizu-chan," Itachi said. "What are you . . ."

"I said, STAY OUT!" A wave ripped through the air, knocking all of us down except for Pein. We still couldn't move. The dragon unfroze, the fire burst forth, but when it reached us none of us felt anything.

"I think she's telling us that the knight must defeat the dragon. Alone." said Kisame.

"But how the fuck is Pein supposed to kill that thing? Our attacks don't work!"

"We need to think about this." said Itachi. "There must be a way to defeat it."

"Then hurry up and think!" Pein growled, jumping out of the way of a swiping talon. But his armor made him clumsy, and a claw grinded along his arm, leaving a long gash in the metal. "My jutsu doesn't work!"

"Let's think, this is a fairy tale, right?" said Sasori. "Does anybody know anything about fairy tales?"

"Gee, what do you think?" Hidan growled. "We're criminals, not eight year old girls!"

"We know the knight must defeat the dragon to rescue the princess. How?"

"What do knights traditionally fight with?" mused Itachi.

"Would you incompetent morons get on with it?" Leader yelled.

"Swords. . ." said Itachi. "Leader! The sword!"

Pein reacted quickly. He drew the sword. It glimmered, pure black, with a line of red running down the spine. It was an old fashioned two handed longsword with two very sharp edges.

He lunged at the dragon, his speed suddenly back. The sword glowed red. He hoisted the shield up and the fire washed harmlessly over it. He dodged the snapping jaw and lashing claws, and drove the sword into the dragon's heart before jumping clear of the beast's thrashing body. Strangely, no blood poured from the wound. In front of our eyes, the dragon bowed its head, and folded its wings. Chizu-chan stepped forward, past Pein who attempted to stop her, but whose grasp somehow couldn't reach her. She put her small hand on its nose. Its breath blew her hair back, and its eyes blinked slowly. For the first time, I noticed that its eyes were the same color as hers.

From the wound, the scales turned black, slowly at first, then progressively faster, until it was entirely dark. Before our eyes, it began to crumble. The hind legs first, then the forelegs; the wings, the body, and finally the head. The dragon turned to ash, and was scattered by the wind.

The door to the tower creaked open.

We were free to move. I got up and ran to her.

"Are you okay? Chizu-chan?" She was standing with her hand still outstretched, eyes distant, and I realized that she was crying. The tears softly ran down her cheeks, but otherwise her face was still as stone. She didn't make a sound. Her hand was stretched out so high, towards the sky, as if she wanted more than anything else to reach it.

"Chizu-chan?" Itachi said. Her hand lowered, hesitantly, almost reluctantly. She wiped her tears with a quick swipe.

"Let's go." she ran to join the others at the entrance of the tower, but it had seem to me that her voice had sounded unusually mature. As I watched her run, her image blurred and for a moment the figure of an older girl occupied the same space as her, her long hair flowing down her back. It only lasted for a second, and nobody else seemed to have noticed it, so I dismissed the apparition and went after them.

We climbed the tower stairs. There were windows along the wall, and as we climbed, the sky became darker. Stars appeared, glowing brightly. The tower was high, and we climbed for a very long time. Chizu-chan hung back, head down, but didn't complain at all. When I looked back at her, it almost seemed as though I could see the stars through her when she passed in front of a window. I couldn't see her face in the gloom.

We arrived at the top. It was a tower chamber, round, and very cold. Archways punctured the walls, looking out into the pitch black sky beyond. On a raised bier in the center was a four poster bed shrouded in gauzy blue curtains. Pein ran into the room and swept them back, revealing Konan. She was lying, asleep, her hands clasped around a red spider lily. She was wearing the Akatsuki cloak.

"Konan," Pein shook her. "Wake up!"

"She won't wake up." Chizu-chan said. She was still at the entrance; she hadn't approached the bier like the rest of us. Usagi-san was tightly gripped in her arms. Behind her, an archway had replaced the entrance door; there was no exit.

"What do you mean?" said Sasori.

"Yeah, tell us kid, we want to get out of here." Hidan leaned against one of the posts. Kakuzu nodded next to him.

She bit her lip. "Was this fun?" she asked. "Did you have fun?"

Kakuzu's foot shot down on Hidan's as he opened his mouth to say something stupid. Kisame was about to talk, when Sasori stepped forward.

"This was, in a strange way, amusing." he said grudgingly. "I won't say it was 'fun.' But I did enjoy myself. If anything else, watching Leader falling off a horse and getting stuck on his back was worth it."

Pein was too busy trying to wake Konan up to hear him, and that was probably for the best.

Chizu-chan seemed satisfied. She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I'll give you a hint. This is a fairy tale. They always end the same way, right?" She sounded . . . older. Her body flickered once more, and I could see a star in her eye.

"A kiss." said Itachi.

Pein didn't hesitate. His lips brushed Konan's and her eyes fluttered open. He helped her sit up. Chizu-chan ran to them, and Kisame had to quickly turn to let her pass. She eyes shone as she took Konan's hand.

"Are you a princess?"

Konan blinked, and she took in the child's face. For a moment, a look of sadness passed over her eyes, but she smiled. "Yes. I am a princess."

"I knew it! I've always wanted to meet a princess! You're so pretty. I'm glad I got to meet you."

This seemed strange. "Konan, hm?"

"Yes?" She stroked the girl's hair back.

She was way too calm. She didn't question anything, she wasn't confused by Chizu-chan, or by anything that was happening. She didn't ask where we were, or question it, or say it was a dream.

"Do you . . ."

"Do you know where we are?" Itachi asked, cutting across me. Konan nodded. She got up from the bed, sweeping the gauzy curtains aside and knelt in front of the girl. She knew where we were. She knew everything, and looked very sad.

"I have a message from Senbazuru. She told me everything."

"I know."

"It must end now. She said to tell you that she is sorry, and she hopes you are happy with this. She hopes that this was enough."

"It is. It was much more than I hoped for. I am . . . I really am happy. I had a lot of fun, but it has to end eventually. I know that." Tears sprang to her eyes, and Konan embraced her. She stroked her hair. "I don't want to go back . . . I don't want to go back . . . but I have to, so it's alright. It's alright."

"Chizu-chan?" A terrible feeling grew in my chest. "What's going on, hm?"

"I believe," said Sasori. His eyes closed. "That this has ended."

Chizu-chan pulled away from Konan, and faced all of us, wiping her tears.

"I had fun. Thanks for coming with me, it really means a lot. I got to do everything I wanted to do. My only regret is that Oniichan isn't here."

"Yeah," Usagi-san said. "You made her happy. That was your job, and you could have done it better, but I suppose we'll take what we can get."

"Usagi-san! Don't be rude. They did a great job." she admonished. "Don't listen to him, he's always been a bit grumpy."

This wasn't the Chizu-chan I knew. Her demeanor was different. Her way of talking was different. She had never rebuked her rabbit before, never like that. She was slightly transparent, maybe a little taller, her hair seemed longer. She sighed heavily, and smiled sadly.

"I'll only get to say them one more time, so listen, 'kay?"

"Say what?" asked Pein.

"Your names . . ." Konan answered. Chizu-chan closed her eyes and recited. Wind seemed to flow around her, making her hair flutter, and her image grew more faded with each name.

"Dei-niisan. . . Itachi-nii . . . Sasori-niisan. . . Kisame-san . . . Shiro-kun. . . Kuro-san. . . Hidan-sama. . . Kuzu-san. . . Leader. . . Konan-neesan . . . Thank you."

Her eyes opened. And they closed again.

"It's time for me to wake up now."

She disappeared. The world around us melted away. I fell, and kept falling, until I jerked awake, sitting against a tree trunk, in a clearing. Next to me, Sasori abruptly stood up, pieces of Hiruko scattered out in front of him.

* * *

It's not over quite yet. I will explain everything in the next chapter of two.

Review!

Peace out.


	10. Chapter 10

Sorry it took me a while to get this written. Well, here it is. There will be another chapter or two after this one, but the end is near.

* * *

We all gathered around the table in the temporary base. It was a large building hidden among the mountains in the Land of Rain, used on the rare occasions Pein required our physical presence. After waking up he had beamed the summons and we had hurried, Sasori-no-Danna and I, to the location. We traveled by bird, and the whole day it took us to get there I thought about that dream. Because there was no way it was anything else but a dream, even though it felt as though I had really been there. Sasori brooded inside Hiruko, refusing to come out, and that was fine because I didn't feel like talking to him anyway. I kept thinking about the girl. Even though everything else seemed so real, inside my memories she was fading, so that I couldn't remember her face or her voice anymore. I spent the trip trying to recall, but it didn't do any good. By the time we touched down in front of the secret entrance and performed the hand seal, she was a ghostly shape of black and white with blue stars for eyes.

We took our seats, Pein at the head and Konan by his side. Everyone was looking at her, silently asking for answers. The atmosphere was heavy; nobody said anything. Outside, I heard thunder rumble, the beginning of a storm. The room was dark despite the torches placed at intervals along the wall. Pein placed his elbows on the table, and intertwined his fingers. Rain began to pour as he spoke.

"The reason why I have called you all here today needs not be reiterated. I at first believed it to be a dream, but Konan has convinced me otherwise. She has met the being that was the cause for our . . . trip . . . and knows the story behind it. She had informed me of it, and has requested to inform you all as well." He sat back, and Konan stepped forward. Her eyes were dark with sadness but when she spoke, her voice was soft and neutral, as it always was on the rare occasions she would speak at all.

We listened intently as she told us the sad story of Amano Chizuru.

* * *

In a completely white hospital room that smelled of anesthetic despite the fresh flowers on the windowsill, a young girl meticulously colored in a picture book with a set of assorted crayons. She was perhaps three of four years old, her black hair in braids and her big blue eyes furrowed in concentration as she made sure to stay within the lines. However, she looked up very quickly when the door opened.

"Mama!" she said. "What did he say? Can I go home now?"

The woman took a seat and smiled, patting her head. "Not yet, Chizu-chan. You need to stay here a little while longer, alright?"

"Okay! Look, I'm almost done!" Amano Chizuru said, holding up her drawing.

"That's very nice, dear."

"Is Papa coming?"

"Yes, he's bringing Chika-chan."

Sometime later, she was permanently admitted and moved to a dormitory of children her age. That is where she met a boy named Takahashi Tsubasa. He was tall for his nine years, with dark blond hair that always seemed to stick out in every direction, green eyes, and a constant smile. He and Chizu-chan got along very well together, and having been admitted at the same time, were soon inseparable. She took to calling him 'Oniichan' and they always played together. One of their favorite games was Kemari, at which Tsubasa excelled. He could juggle, too, and frequently delighted her with intricate displays of dexterity. They also liked to play tag or hide and seek with the other children, hiding all around the hospital and getting scolded for it later.

Tsubasa told Chizu-chan that he was here because of a heart condition; and that he might need to get a new heart if his treatment didn't work. However, she couldn't tell him why she was here. She was the one taken away for tests the most often out of all the children, and her medication varied often; but she was never told why she was here. When her mother visited, Chizu-chan would always ask the same question,

"Can I go home now?" And her mother would answer.

"Just a little longer. Be a good girl and bear with it, alright?"

Chizu-chan didn't mind, at first. She had a wonderful time with Tsubasa and the other children, and only had lessons once a week, administered by a teacher from her kindergarten. She got to play, and she was very happy for a while. She seemed to grow a bit weaker each day, and tests revealed a growing numbness in her legs. She started to cough up blood and had fits where her heart almost stopped, but her varied panoply of medication kept the worst at bay. She was able to live rather happily. The change came a little while after her sixth birthday, an occasion on which she had gone on a trip to the zoo with the other children. She had had a wonderful time.

The change came while she was playing tag with Tsubasa. He had grown, and had been moved to a dormitory with older children, but they still played together all the time. Chizu-chan had raced down the hall as fast as her legs could carry her, calling after him that it wasn't fair because his legs were longer than hers and she couldn't keep up. She skidded around a corner, Tsubasa turned around to taunt her, and she suddenly seemed to over in the air, eyes wide with shock. The next instant, she went sprawling with a cry of pain over the cold white floor. When Tsubasa hurried to her side, laughing at her clumsiness, teasing her about having tripped on her own feet, his voice faltered because he saw that something was horribly wrong. Chizuru had pushed herself up, her legs spread out in front of her, completely limp. Her eyes, glazed over with shock and so wide the blue in them seemed lost, wandered up to him.

"I can't feel my legs."

Chizuru was moved to a private room. Tests revealed complete loss of sensation from above her knee to her toes. She couldn't walk anymore.

It was around the same time that her father and sister stopped visiting. She overheard the nurses talking about a confrontation between her parents, during which her father had told her mother to 'give up.' Her father had left, taking her sister Chikako with him. She never saw him again. During her visits, her mother was always cheerful, and would always answer the inevitable question by "Just a little longer."

Tsubasa spent nearly all his free time with her. If she wasn't allowed to leave her room because of her treatment, he would visit and delight her with new tricks. He once attempted to put on a puppet show, but gave up with an embarrassed grin when he realized that was a bit too hard for him. He took her out in a wheelchair whenever she could, and got very creative in adapting the games so that she could play. During the spring, he got special permission to take her to see the cherry blossoms in the courtyard, which she couldn't see from her window. The cherry blossoms falling in a soft pink rain were one of her most treasured memories.

One day, a little bit after she turned seven, she said,

"You know, Oniichan, there are a lot of things I want to do when I get to leave."

"Like what?" he said, juggling a couple of temari balls. She grinned mischievously.

"Like seeing a real puppet show!"

His face flushed and he missed. Picking up the colorful balls, he said, "You promised not to mention that again!"

"Sorry, sorry!" she laughed, and coughed.

"But that gives me an idea. I have stuff I want to do too. Say, why don't we make a list?"

"A list? Of what?"

"Of things we can do together once we both get to leave! Give me a sec'." He rushed out for a minute or two, and came back with a notepad and a pen. He wrote down, 'see a puppet show' on it. "What next? Oh, I want to go camping." He added that.

"I went camping, once, before I got here. I want to see the forest again, I remember, the smell . . ."

"We'll do that. What else?"

Chizu-chan wanted to go to an amusement park. Tsubasa wanted to go scuba diving, and she wanted to ride a dolphin, and insisted it get put on the list even though he said it wasn't really feasible. He regaled her with tales of what they would do on the beach.

"You have to destroy the sand castle, before the sea gets to it. And if you put a shell next to your ear, you'll hear the waves."

She said she wanted to fly. He indulged her. He wanted to visit the hot springs. She wanted to see a prince defeat the dragon, and she wanted to see a princess. He wrote that down. They would make it work, somehow. He wanted to play poker, and had to explain it as something only grownups could do, like drinking alcohol, and act which was also added to the list at Chizu-chan's insistence. She wanted to roll down a grassy hill. He wanted to ride a horse. And so their wish list was written. She pinned it up on her wall, so she could look at it and think of all the things she would get to do with her Oniichan once she got better.

By the time she turned seven, the times Tsubasa could come grew less and less frequent. He was getting sicker, couldn't run anymore, and his complexion grew deathly pale, but he walked in one day with a great smile on his face, and said,

"Guess what? I'm getting a new heart!"

She wished him good luck. She herself was growing weaker, but she didn't want to show it in front of him. He was practically bouncing with excitement, and she felt a little sad. She would miss him once he left.

The surgery was a success, and Tsubasa was discharged. He came to say goodbye to her, and gave her a hug, promising to visit. He told her jokingly that she had better hurry up and get better; else he would get started on that wish list without her. She did her best to laugh and wave him goodbye through the window.

She could hardly leave her room anymore. Her mother came infrequently, and when she did, she almost couldn't bear to be in the same room as her daughter. Tsubasa made good on his promise, though, and visited her often with gifts. One of them was a pink stuffed bunny with an eye missing.

"He used to be mine," Tsubasa said, turning red with embarrassment. "His name's Usagi-san. I . . . I figured you'd need him more than me."

She hugged the bunny tightly, hiding her burning face. She was also a little embarrassed, and a bit sad that he still considered her such a child. But she kept Usagi-san at her side at all times.

Another time he visited her, he brought her paper and declared he was going to teach her how to make origami cranes. When she asked why, he said,

"Your name means 'one thousand cranes,' and you don't know? There's a legend that says, if you fold one thousand origami cranes you'll get your wish granted."

"One thousand? But that's way too many!"

"Dummy, I'm not saying we'll make a thousand, I just want to teach you how to make them. I can teach you others, but we can start with these."

So Tsubasa taught her to fold origami cranes. She was very taken with it, and he left her with a large supply of paper. That image of him leaving, his school bag hoisted over his shoulder, grinning with his hair stuck up in every direction like always, would be the last one she ever saw of him. It was sketched in her mind, ephemeral, glowing in the sunset streaming through the window so that everything was dyed red and gold and fuzzy around the edges like a hazy dream. She had a dream the next night, where she stretched out her hand through the golden air to keep him from leaving, to make him stay here before it was too late, but her limbs were heavy and her voice caught in her throat before soft golden light killed all sound and the door closed without a shudder.

It happened a little before she turned eight. She was being pushed down the hall by a nurse, in route for more tests, when a gurney was wheeled through. It flashed by in a whirlwind of confusion and urgent calling, and she thought it was Tsubasa laying there, an oxygen mask over his face, eyes closed and face devoid of color.

The next day, her mother came. She told her that Tsubasa wouldn't be able to visit for a while, but that he would surely be back. Her smile as she said this was weak, as if she was on the verge of breaking down completely.

Chizuru was left alone. Over the next several weeks, she stared at the wish list, the bunny, the folded cranes, the temari balls he had played with, the pocket watch he had given her, all the colorful things he had left behind. The vivid splashes of color stood out on the dull white of the room, sharp, a myriad of reds and blues and yellows and greens scattered over blank space. The colors were the only things left now.

_There's a legend that says, if you fold one thousand origami cranes you'll get your wish granted._

One day, almost without realizing it, her hands tentatively reached to the colors, and she began to fold.

She was so weak by now she could barely sit up, and her hands trembled so badly that it was slow going. She coughed, and blood ran down her lips, and she had moments when she could scarcely breathe. But she kept folding. The colors rearranged themselves into a sea of little paper birds.

The colorful paper given to her by Tsubasa soon ran out. The nurses brought her some more from the gift shop. One by one, a little at a time, the cranes stained the white and covered everything. Like a steady tide, as the seasons passed by and her body wasted away, she continued to fold.

Finally, when she turned ten, she had folded one thousand paper cranes. But when she went to sleep that night, the curtains open so she could see the stars, she did not know what wish to make. Because she knew. She knew she would never leave the hospital. She knew she would never see Tsubasa again. She would never go to an amusement park, play on the beach, smell the forest, and she would never, ever grow up. Fairy tales aren't real. There are no magical cranes to grant wishes.

"A wish . . . that's so stupid . . . It's just a waste of time . . . These things won't bring Oniichan back, and they won't save me either!" In a sudden rage she ripped the cranes off their peg. She cried for the first time in years. Small fists crushed the cranes, her tears running down into the gay strings.

"I don't want to die . . . I don't want to die . . ." The truth her mother had kept from her, the reason why her father had left and why she was so repelled by her daughter's presence . . . Who would have the strength to watch their child die?

"I want to see him . . . I want to see Oniichan . . . we said we'd do them together! When we both got out! IT'S NOT FAIR!" Tsubasa's transplant had been unsuccessful. She had seen him get rushed into emergency surgery, but she had never accepted it till now. In the end, she knew that neither of them would be able to leave. No matter how many colors had been brought into the room, the white loneliness and death would swallow them all.

She cried, hugging the folded cranes to her chest, cried so hard she felt she couldn't breathe and blood dripped down her mouth and her hands trembled with the strain, she cried so hard because this was unfair and she knew that no matter what happened, no matter how much she struggled with her fading strength, she could never change anything. She resented that knowledge. She remembered how nice it had been, in those colorful days when she could still walk, and run, and play, and Oniichan was with her and she didn't know anything about what lay ahead. To be a child again, to be able to run once more . . . she felt that if she could only run one more time, she would never stop.

That night as she slept, a figure floated in through the window, a beautiful woman with no physical form who swept in unperturbed by obstacles. Her white hair flowed down her back, shining silver in the moonlight, her complexion was the white of fresh snow, and her eyes were fringed by thick dark lashes. She wore an elaborate garb, a many-layered kimono in a myriad of colors with a long train and sleeves that covered her hands. She came to stand above the sleeping child and put her hand over her brow.

"I am sorry. I am unable to grant your wish, for I do not have the power to conquer death. Your fate is sealed, little one, and no act of mine may change it." Her impassive face grew sad. "I am truly sorry."

Her eyes fell upon the wish list, the bunny, and the cranes. She smiled. "But . . . I can give you dreams. Wonderful dreams, where you may walk, and play, and forget, until the time comes that you must meet your end. I will give you friends to play with as well, and you will not be lonely." She touched the rabbit, and it sat up sleepily, an ear flopping to the side. "You must have a companion . . . wake, little rabbit. Your role will be to lead the girl through her dream world, see that she comes to no harm, and make sure her happiness is assured. This is, after all, all for the sake of Chizuru's happiness."

And the crane spirit Senbazuru swept away once more with a final, regretful backwards glance at the sleeping child.

The girl that night had her first dream. Running through the corridors of the empty hospital with Usagi-san, she visited strange lands through the doors, until the needles on the pocket watch reached twelve and she had to wake. And so, night after night, she waited until she could embark on that final quest to fulfill the wish the two children shared.

* * *

So? What'ja think? Review!


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